-The Hindustan Times In April, after yet another story of maid abuse came out in the open, a news magazine ran a cover story titled, ‘The new slaves’. While many would cringe at the thought of equating domestic workers with slaves, unfortunately that is exactly how many families treat their domestic help, taking advantage of a crowded labour market, lack of a credible support system for the help, weak implementation of...

-The Indian Express The SIT was set up to clear the path for justice in Gujarat. Instead, it trips on itself Ten years after the riots in Gujarat, many answers are still to be wrenched out of the system. However, the judiciary has shown its determination to ensure a thorough accounting — last month, a judgment on the Ode killings convicted 23 people. The Supreme Court, in particular, has taken extraordinary measures...

-PTI German pharma major Bayer has charged that Indian generic drugmaker Cipla had breached its patent rights by slashing the price of a generic version of its patent-protected cancer drug Nexavar last week. Bayer Pharma has not given its consent to Cipla to launch its generic Sorafenib (sold under the brand name Nexavar) and the company’s decision to cut the price of the life-extending kidney and liver cancer drug “is a clear...

-The Times of India The national project to give unique identity numbers to all Indians, and enable welfare payments electronically, is now facing a snub from the very part of the government that funds it, and has been its most staunch supporter so far: The finance ministry. Two moves initiated by the banking division in the finance ministry over the past three months appear to duplicate and bypass the work being done...

-The Times of India The CBI must prosecute the Pathribal case The Supreme Court's ruling in the Pathribal case, giving military autho-rities eight weeks to court martial the army officials allegedly responsible for the extrajudicial killings of five Kashmiri civilians 12 years ago, is unfortunate. It would be all too easy for the matter to be quietly swept under the carpet if left in the hands of the military authorities, as has...