-The Telegraph New Delhi: Public health activists have asked the Union health ministry to reject a demand from an association of Indian doctors to exempt hospitals and clinics with accreditation from proposed rules to regulate the costs of services charged to patients. The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA, or People's Health Movement) has opposed a demand from the Indian Medical Association to the health ministry seeking exemption for accredited hospitals from the Clinical...

-The Indian Express Issues notice to manufacturer too, seeks replies in 15 days The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a showcause notice to Patanjali Ayurved, demanding an explanation on the sale of the atta noodles brand — launched by yoga guru Ramdev — without the food regulator’s approval. Another showcause notice has been issued to Aakash Yog, the manufacturer of the instant noodles, seeking its response as...

-NDTV In a few days, on the 29th of November, a group of four safai karmacharis (sweepers) and three beldars (diggers) along with three more senior persons, all working for the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), will be returning from a week-long official trip to Japan and South Korea where they are learning first-hand about sanitation, cleanliness, waste disposal as well as the maintenance of urban colonies, markets etc. The NDMC...

As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the public domain recently. The CAG report discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers...

-The Tribune To ensure stable prices of pulses and attractive returns for producers, policies of domestic prices and tariffs should blend. Import duties must be calibrated with demand. As the Indian economy grows at a rate of 7 per cent plus, assuming low growth as an aberration, the food basket will diversify. Within grains, the movement will be to pulses as shown by the  expert group on pulse production. The yield and...