-The Asian Age The sharp and sudden collapse of international prices of crude oil brings significant short-term gains for the Indian economy. However, in the medium and long run, the fall in oil prices has ramifications that are far from positive for this country. The windfall gains that have accrued will provide temporary relief for finance minister Arun Jaitley and will enable him to meet the fiscal deficit target in the...

-The Hindustan Times India is likely to face a cotton glut this year. The surplus, however, will be of little comfort to suicide-prone and highly indebted farmers, who stare at a sharp drop in earnings - prices are already down 14% compared with last year. The crisis has to do with a slowdown in China, which is forecast to slash by half the amount of cotton it will import this year, most...

-The Hindu Known for their hunting skills, the Yanadis catch 30 to 40 rats each day against odds in the slushy paddy fields ONGOLE (Andhra Pradesh): Pied piper got rid of rat menace by just playing his pipe in the German town of Hamelin in the medieval period, according to a legend. The job of pest controllers is not that easy as playing a tune on one's pipe despite advancement in science and...

-The Indian Express It was an interesting discussion. The subject was the recent ordinance promulgated by the government of Rajasthan banning men and women without a Class X certificate from contesting zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections. To contest at the sarpanch level, a candidate will need to have passed Class VIII (Class V in tribal areas). In this state, with a particularly poor record of literacy among women, tribals and...

-Economic and Political Weekly The key to improving the quality of healthcare services in India and reducing costs at the same time can be found by enacting legislation which lays down minimum standards of patient care. In the absence of such standards and the reluctance of health insurance companies to standardise either price or quality, healthcare services continue to be expensive and of doubtful quality. Developing standards of patient care by...