-EPW   With laws like the AFSPA, when will truth and justice prevail in Jammu and Kashmir? Like all Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) chief ministers after the dreadful years of president’s rule from 1990 to 1996, Omar Abdullah too stands discredited, especially in the wake of the 2010 uprising of the “stone pelters” which was later brutally suppres­sed. A widely held opinion in the Kashmir Valley is that the chief minister, whether of...

-The Indian Express   Narendra Modi government has justified before the Supreme Court its ongoing probe against social activist Teesta Setalvad in a case of alleged illegal exhuming of bodies of 2002 Gujarat riot victims, saying that she actually planned and executed digging of graves without permission in 2006. In an Affidavit, the Gujarat government claimed that during the investigations involving the accused, including her one time close aide Rai Khan Pathan, and...

The Assam government has failed to utilise central funds meant for granting scholarships to minority students, prompting Delhi to ask Dispur to either come up with a transparent procedure or drop the scheme altogether. A long-winding process has apparently delayed the scholarships in Assam, though the Centre has sanctioned funds for the scheme for the past three financial years. A source told The Telegraph that the adviser to the Prime Minister, T.K.A....

New drug pricing policy proposes bringing all essential medicines under price control, but makes them expensive After years of dilly-dallying and several Supreme Court reminders, the Centre has proposed to bring all essential drugs under price control. But the policy is nothing but hogwash. Its pricing mechanism would make essential medicines out of reach for most people. Public health experts have termed the draft National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy of 2011 a...

-PTI   140 Rajya Sabha members have declared that they do not have any pecuniary interests as directors of companies, controlling shares, regular salaries, paid consultancies and professional engagements despite some of them having declared assets worth crores in their election Affidavits.   Voluntary groups, Association of Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch, which received this information under the Right to Information Act, on Thursday made public the Register of Interests of Rajya Sabha Members...