-The Telegraph New Delhi: A petition seeking a ban on 99 pesticides already outlawed or restricted in advanced nations has prompted the Supreme Court to seek responses within four weeks from the ministries of agriculture and chemical-and-fertilisers besides the Central Insecticides Board. These pesticides are killing hundreds in India and causing serious illness to thousands, the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud heard on Monday. Moved...

-The Statesman The ongoing flood situation in several parts of peninsular India has left people confused. Just a few months ago, the states were declared drought-hit with a severe drinking water crisis. Yet, images of the 2015 floods in Chennai are still fresh in one’s memory. Reports of the recent floods in Bangalore and Mumbai poured in even as the region was declared to be facing the worst drought in recorded...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC) and the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) have strongly condemned the murder earlier this week of Bengaluru journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh. IWPC also expressed grave concern at the language used in a Facebook post threatening violence against Delhi journalist Sagarika Ghose. A day after Lankesh's killing, an individual, going by the name of VikramAditya Rana, allegedly circulated a Facebook post calling...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A leading cancer specialist has called on the government to investigate whether a "tobacco lobby" has influenced arms of the government to initiate action against public health organisations engaged in India's tobacco control efforts. Kailash Sharma, director of academics at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, has cited leaked government and tobacco industry documents to seek a probe into whether a Union home ministry note allegedly depicting tobacco control...

-Cobrapost Press Release Cobrapost unearths a thriving racket in which all major private hospitals hand out handsome commission to doctors and smaller hospitals for referrals, at the expense of patients New Delhi: In a long investigation Operation White Coat spanning three mega-cities of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore and covering 20 major private multi-specialty hospitals, Cobrapost has unearthed a racket of referrals in which these hospitals offer commission ranging between 10 and 30...