-The Hindu On November 16, when the country celebrated the National Press Freedom Day, three newspapers in Nagaland were published with blank editorials to protest a notification from Assam Rifles that had the effect of muzzling the press freedom. The notification warned newspapers against carrying statements made by militant outfits. The Press Council of India (PCI) has served notice suo motu on Assam Rifles and the State government. “We are worried about the...

-The Hindu But an Assocham study has warned of an increase in prices Amid concern that the price of rice may be next to shoot up after those of pulses and onion, trade bodies put forth divergent views. V.S. Sethia, former president and currently a governing council member of the All-India Rice Export Association, told The Hindu that apprehensions of a sharp rise in rice price were baseless as ample stock of regular...

-Livemint.com It is early days yet to claim victory in the larger struggle to correct the fundamental bias in WTO against developing countries The impasse regarding the implementation of the trade facilitation agreement (TFA) in the World Trade Organization (WTO) seems to be coming to an end after India and the US reportedly resolved their differences on the food security outcome of the Bali ministerial conference held last December. Apparently, the US...

-The Hindu Business Line How the Indian State metamorphosed from protector of the poor to facilitator of the private health industry If there is correlation between two incidents of the Central Government announcing cuts in the health budget and dengue patients being refused treatment in Delhi’s private hospitals, it is rarely discussed in the ongoing media debate on the subject. A new collection of researched essays edited by public health scholar Imrana...

-The Indian Express Indian healthcare providers need to get serious about infection control. A deadly strain of bacterium has doubled its resistance to last-resort antibiotics within a year, according to the report “State of the World’s Antibiotics, 2015”. By an estimate, antimicrobial resistance — the ability of bugs to outwit antibiotics — will claim two million lives in India by 2050, a fifth of the total. India is under pressure to curb...