-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission and the state information commissions want the government to introduce a legal filter in the Right to Information Act to sift out vexatious, flippant and frivolous applications. The National Federation of Information Commissions in India, the apex body headed by the chief of CIC, has recommended that the Centre introduce a filter in the transparency legislation so that the RTI Act cannot...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a move that comes as a huge relief to patients of chronic Hepatitis C, the apex committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has granted a waiver of local trials for crucial new direct-acting antiviral drugs treating the disease. The waiver for sofosbuvir and ledipasvir co-formulation and for daclatasvir is expected to bring the generic version of these drugs, which cost a fraction...

-Economic and Political Weekly The importance of hand-washing in personal and public hygiene has evolved over the centuries. While the market with its countless number of soaps and hand-wash products for personal hygiene with the accompanying advertising has created a false sense of security, it is community hygiene implemented through public health measures that is really effective in the battle against disease. Lekha D Bhat (lekhabhatd@gmail.com) teaches at the Department of Social...

Agricultural insurance is supposed to protect farmers from financial hardships and risks when crop losses and damage takes place due to extreme weather events such as drought, cyclone, hailstorms, flood etc. However, in reality this does not hold true in India. Due to the failure of crop insurance schemes in India, there has been a deepening of agrarian crisis and rural distress in the recent times, particularly in the backdrop of...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Every third child born in India is premature, said city's neonatologists while stressing on the need to check this trend by improving the nutrition of young women.  Neonatology Forum (NNF) Mumbai's president Dr Kishore Sanghvi said, "It is estimated that 3.6 million premature births took place in India in 2010. India is the biggest contributor to the world's prematurity burden.'' He was speaking at a function held on...