-IBNS   A group of about 35 women economists from different countries of Europe, UK, US, Australia and India, have written an open letter to Prime Ministers and Presidents of South Asian nations, including India, which are facing acute sanitation crisis. From India, Jayati Ghosh, Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Bina Agarwal, Director, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University and Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson Board of Governors, Indian...

-The Times of India   The anti-nuclear protests by the largely illiterate fishermen and women from coastal hamlets that has stalled the commissioning of the multi-crore nuclear plant at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district enters the 100th day on Thursday. The protests that begun on August 16 in Idinthakarai, also a coastal hamlet with dusty roads and thatched houses adjoining Kudankulam, has been a success for the agitators in the sense that they had...

My attention was drawn to “An Open Letter to the Chief Minister of West Bengal” which was signed by thirty members of the civil society of Kolkata and Delhi. What disturbed me was the tone and tenor of the language used in the letter in denouncing Ms Mamata Banerjee’s bold initiative in inviting the Maoists of Junglemahal for a dialogue after “ceasefire”. May I ask with all humility who among the...

The state government has sought technical advice and assistance on its proposed plan to carry out mass vaccination ahead of monsoon next year in Gaya and adjoining districts to stop outbreak of Japanese encephalitis and acute encephalitis syndrome. Sanjay Kumar, the secretary of the state health department, said the state was keen on going for a mass immunisation and regular immunisation for Japanese encephalitis as a preventive measure next year. “We...

-The Telegraph   An elderly woman who was brought to a Burdwan hospital today with abdominal pain died of heart attack following a three-hour delay in treatment during which she was allegedly refused admission in the emergency ward and her son forced to cart her across departments, buy a ticket to see a doctor and stand in a queue. After the death of Ulangini Das, who had been diagnosed with gall bladder stones...