-The Hindu India accounts for the largest number of deaths of infants primarily because it has failed to provide them and their mothers access to critical health care India loses 4,200 children under the age of five every day. This figure is certainly unacceptable for any emerging country. The collective ache of losing so many newborns is worsened by the realisation that many of these deaths are preventable. The country accounts for nearly...

-The Business Standard Kolkata: Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, Ford Foundation International professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has slammed the government's Right To Education (RTE) programme. This, he said, was only a step towards ensuring a means of livelihood for teachers. Banerjee said the programme, implemented in 2009, lacked sense. He said he wasn't hopeful about the outcome of the initiative. "It is simply for the teachers, by the teachers,...

-PTI The government on Tuesday said it proposes to bring a Bill to monitor the services of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) clinics and Banks to regulate surrogacy in the country. “A draft Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill has been formulated and sent to Ministry of Law and Justice for concurrence,” Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. He said in order to monitor...

-The Hindu Bangalore: In an open letter to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner, Amnesty International India has demanded that the BBMP ensure that those affected by its forced eviction of around 1,200 families from the Economically Weaker Section Quarters in Ejipura are immediately provided with essential medical services, drinking water, access to sanitation and basic housing, “in line with international human rights standards”. Amnesty International said that it is particularly worried...

-The Economic Times Finance Minister P Chidambaram has warned corporate bigwigs against wilful defaults, reminding promoters that it was their duty to bring in additional capital if their companies got into trouble. "We cannot have an affluent promoter and a sick company," he said, in an apparent reference to the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines, owned by the flamboyant Vijay Mallya. Banks are stuck with nearly Rs 7,000 crore worth of loans they...