-The Hindu Medicines remain overpriced and unaffordable in India. In a country mired in poverty, medical debt remains the second biggest factor for keeping millions in poverty. The international pharmaceutical industry has found its cash cow in India’s beleaguered consumers. With a minimum wage of Rs.250/day for a government worker, a basic wage worker afflicted with a chronic disease like multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis faces penury. His treatment, with drug combinations, which works out...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court today chided the Delhi government for "resting in AC chambers" while expecting the judiciary to hand it a solution to the capital's water crisis "on a platter". Bearing the brunt was Delhi water minister Kapil Mishra, whose government has sought an apex court directive to the Centre and Haryana to restore water supply from Haryana's Munak canal, which the Jat protesters have allegedly damaged. Chief Justice...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, a pet project of the Prime Minister, has found few takers in its second phase with only 32 of over 750 MPs identifying panchayats to adopt: 24 from the Lok Sabha and six from the Rajya Sabha. Some sent in entries after the January 31 deadline. Narendra Modi adopted Nagepur, a village in his Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency on February 17. In the...

-Frontline Former psephologist Yogendra Yadav, now a member of the political collective Swaraj Abhiyan, recently toured India’s drought-affected districts. He called it a Samvedna Yatra. During the tour, he took note of the agony in rural areas affected by what he calls “one of the worst droughts in independent India” The drought, according to him, has left farmers and the larger rural community in extreme distress, leading to damaging changes in...

-The Hindu Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Secretary Basudeb Banerjee held video conferences with District Magistrates on Tuesday to iron out the glitches in the government’s distribution of digital Ration cards. The meeting took place at the State Secretariat. The development comes after a number of issues cropped up regarding the implementation of the government’s related initiative including delay in the issuing of digital Ration cards and confusion among beneficiaries about the...