-The Telegraph The Lokpal bill faces further delay with the Rajya Sabha today referring it to a 15-member select committee by voice vote, but not before the Opposition accused the government of playing “games” and trying to bypass House business rules. The select committee, to be made up by members from various parties, is to hand in its report by the last week of the monsoon session. The BJP, CPM and the Bahujan...

Muslim women may finally get their due share in family inheritance. The long standing demand of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board for a suitable amendment in the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act 1950 to bring it at par with the Shariat is likely to get an official nod soon. After AIMPLB reasserted its stance last month, the state government is considering the option to push through...

-The Indian Express Drug regulation is a mess. Everyone who propped up this irresponsible system is to blame Last week, a parliamentary standing committee on health delivered a thoroughly damaging report on the state of drug regulation in India, and the collusion between the regulator, industry and the medical profession that puts patients last. Over 118 pages, it said that the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and the Drug Standards Control...

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s statement in Parliament that the Government plans to shift subsidies from chemical fertilizers to organic manures has finally earned him some admiration from grassroots organisations working with small and marginal farmers in the country’s vast dry-lands. Pawar’s statement, if translated into policy action, may go a long way in improving the condition of some of India’s poorest farmers in the rain-fed areas which account for...

Health activists say new policy may not address the weaknesses in ongoing routine immunisation programmes and would flood poor countries with new vaccines When the global health leaders meet in Geneva from May 21 to 26 for the World Health Organization's 65th General Assembly, introducing new vaccines in the low- and middle-income countries would be high on their agenda. A “global draft vaccine action plan”, available on WHO's website, details the implementation...