-The Hindu   The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered five Preliminary Enquiries (PEs) relating to alleged irregularities in the funds allotted to the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in Uttar Pradesh since its inception in 2005-06, CBI spokesperson said here on Saturday. The PEs were registered on the directions of the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow Bench. They pertain to civil works of Director-General (Family Welfare), procurement of medicines and equipments and information,...

Several state governments have come out strongly against how the centre has planned the resource mobilisation for the national food security law, a key initiative of the UPA-II government. States including those ruled by the Congress party has complained to the Union food ministry that legal entitlements for subsidised grain to a large section of the population as envisaged in the Bill would put an enormous financial burden on them....

A life bound to a wheelchair, with speech inability and two heart attacks, would not seem like much of a life. But doctor Sharadkumar Dicksheet proved it wrong. In over four decades, Dicksheet performed over 2.5 lakh facial reconstructive surgeries for free. Until this winter, that is. He died on November 14 in Brooklyn, US. He was 81. Dicksheet has two daughters and a son from two marriages, neither of which lasted. What...

-The Telegraph   The Union government today pledged Rs 100 crore to kickstart a fund that would seek to mobilise innovation focused on solving problems for sections of the population at the bottom of India’s socio-economic pyramid. The National Innovation Council (NIC), a government think tank, which has proposed the India Inclusive Innovation Fund has said it is designed to address concerns that existing innovation has often focused more on the wants of...

-The Hindu   Vice President Hamid Ansari has come out in favour of a media regulation framework, agreeing with Press Council Chairman Justice Markandey Katju that self-regulation has failed. “Collective self-regulation has yet to succeed in substantive measure because it is neither universal nor enforceable. Individual self-regulation has also failed due to personal predilection and the prevailing of personal interest over public interest,” said Mr. Ansari. He was speaking on the occasion of National...