-PTI Amidst opposition in several quarters to its plan to tweak the rural job scheme, NDA government on Thursday asserted that it would go ahead with MGNREGA reforms as it charged that the flagship programme of the previous UPA regime "was allowed to be exploited for purely partisan purposes". "The tendencies of acquiring easy money and using government funds for political party promotion could be curbed only when a spirited team of...

-Asia News Network A controversy is brewing over a new cure for hepatitis C because it is extremely expensive and patients in middle-income countries like Malaysia will find it way beyond their budget. There are an estimated 400,000 Malaysians with hepatitis C, but this is probably a significant under-estimate since many people are not aware that they have the virus. Worldwide, 170 million people live with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), and every...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is worried about the safety of these "stubborn, independent and aggressive" denizens of the hills. Cyclone Hudhud could prove to be more aggressive. Special relief commissioner P.K. Mohapatra said the Bondas - a primitive tribe living in the Malkangiri forests that fall in the path of the approaching cyclone - have not experienced in the recent past such a storm that weather officials said could pack...

-Tehelka.com Cleanliness of Indian cities cannot be ensured without job security, safety gear and competitive wages for sanitary workers. In a unique address to the nation on 2 October - Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary - Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his commitment to devote 100 hours every year to sweeping the floor, picking up the waste and dusting his windows. He also urged everybody to do the same so that Indian cities...

-The Business Standard The response by Indian industry and civil society to Satyarthi's honour has been conspicuously absent When an Indian citizen had last won a Nobel Prize - Amartya Sen for Economics in 1998 - the prize was much celebrated in the country, and the winner was awarded a Bharat Ratna the next year. But that was 16 years ago. Today, even as another Indian, Kailash Satyarthi, is set to jointly...