-Reuters Millions of people in Maharashtra are at serious risk of hunger after two years of low rainfall, coupled with poor management of water resources, have left dams empty, farmland parched and cattle emaciated, aid agencies warned on Thursday. Maharashtra -- one of the country's biggest producers of sugar, pulses, cotton and soybeans -- is reeling from the worst drought in more than four decades after receiving less than 50 percent of...

-The Hindustan Times Government is set to fight Maoists with an all new weapon-development. From more residential schools to more mobile health units, the UPA is planning a slew of development activities in the red corridor along with its recent measures to beef up security offensive against the Maoists. After a recent meeting of the centre's Review Panel on Left Wing Extremism (LWE), cabinet secretary Ajit Seth directed the health ministry to...

-The Economic Times The recent patent rulings in India may get frequently challenged in international courts if the government yields to the European Union's demand of including matters related to intellectual property in the investors-state dispute mechanism in their proposed trade pact, health activist groups have warned. An investor-state dispute resolution mechanism typically allows foreign investors to sue countries for compensation if national laws, policies, court rulings of the country infringe upon...

-The Hindu   The absence of a comprehensive rehabilitation policy for surrendered militants has made life hellish for those who decided to give themselves up and join the mainstream Jammu & Kashmir's first "Surrender Policy" was floated by Governor Gen. (retd.) K.V. Krishna Rao's administration in 1995. It was almost identical to the policies introduced for militants involved in the North East and Naxalite insurgencies: Rs.1.5 lakh worth of fixed deposit receipts payable...

-The Economic Times In what could hobble the government's plans to give Aadhar a key role in banking and a central pin of the direct cash transfer scheme, several state-run banks have refused to bear any liability for transactions done with customers that were authenticated through the unique identity (UID) mechanism. Banks and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had been convinced by the finance ministry to use Aadhar to fulfill the...