-The Hindu Association’s decision is in protest against lack of clarity in RTE implementation As many as 1,800 schools are likely to remain closed from Monday as the Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association (KUSMA) has decided to go ahead with its weeklong bandh. Despite a dialogue scheduled for Monday with the State government, the association has taken the decision as a mark of protest against the lack of clarity in the implementation of...

-The Hindu Growing demand for male children, ‘same-caste’ surrogates   Unregulated fertility clinics indulge in medical malpractices, including physical and economical exploitation of women, a study has shown. Shockingly, preference for male children and demand for ‘same caste’ surrogates are prevalent in India. “Some couples, say about 5 per cent, who come to my clinic demand surrogates from their own caste,” says Nayna Patel, of the Akanksha Fertility Clinic in Anand, Gujarat that has come...

-Press Information Bureau I am very happy to release the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Sameeksha, brought out by the Ministry of Rural Development. This is an innovative way of looking at our development programmes. I compliment Shri Jairam Ramesh for taking the initiative to reach out to scholars in different parts of our country to apply their minds to analysis of what is being achieved, what is possible, what is not yet...

Tuberculosis re-emerges as a major threat as new drug-resistant strains develop because of mismanagement of the disease. At the beginning of the year, doctors at Mumbai’s P.D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre reported that they had 12 patients infected with TDR-TB, or totally drug-resistant tuberculosis, a condition in which the TB bacilli is resistant to all first- and second-line drugs used in the conventional treatment of the disease. Panic...

-FAO Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture play a crucial role in food and nutrition security and in providing for the livelihoods of millions of people. FAO's latest flagship publication on the state of fisheries and aquaculture, launched at the opening of the 30th session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries, highlights the sector's vital contribution to the world's well-being and prosperity, a point reflected in the recent Rio+20 Outcome Document. The State of...