-Outlook In an alarming trend, girl child numbers in India have shown a sharper decline than the male children in the decade beginning 2001, leading to a skewed child sex ratio. Ahead of the International Day of the Girl Child on Thursday, government today said that while the decade saw an overall drop in share of children to total population, nearly three million girls, one million more than boys, are "MISsing" in...

-The Hindu Farmers’ protest against the proposed 1,980-MW power plant in the trans-Yamuna Karchhna tehsil of Allahabad district entered its 777th day on Tuesday. While the district administration recently served a month’s ultimatum on the farmers to return the compensation they had received for land acquisition, the farmers told The Hindu that they would not be able to repay the amount, regardless of the ultimatum. Meanwhile, they say they will continue agitating at...

-Live Mint The first in a two-part series examining the opaque world of clinical trials in India  A hospital in Indore has been able to get away with unethical medical trials in which 32 people have died over five years, according to the state government. This despite several investigations, a state government ban and Supreme Court strictures—a classic example of the lawless nature of the clinical trial business in India.   Lata Mehra, who...

-The Economic Times With reports of groundwater level going down in Punjab and Haryana, considered the rice bowl of India, scientists and analysts suggest its cultivation be shifted to eastern states which have better water resources. They say Punjab and Haryana should focus on basmati rice, which is largely exported, and the eastern states should produce non-basmati varieties for meeting the domestic demand. Talking to ET, Dr Swapan Kumar Dutta, deputy director general...

-The Business Standard A decision has been taken to gradually initiate Aadhaar and non-Aadhaar based LPG subsidy transfer through the OMCs  Having capped subsidised LPG cylinder to six, the government plans to move to a single price for domestic LPG by directly transferring subsidy to consumers with or without Aadhaar number. A committee of officials from ministries of petroleum, banking, expenditure, finance and UIDAI will prepare a white paper on the modalities...