-The Hindu Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh announces it will not take part in the strike. The Left affiliated central trade unions will go ahead with a nationwide strike on Friday, even as the Centre on Tuesday announced sops in a bid to placate them. The peace offering includes a hike in the minimum wage for unskilled non-agricultural workers in central public sector units from Rs. 246 to Rs. 350 a day and formation of...

-The Hindu Sahul Hameed says rotating houses could be built using the same technology. Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu): M. Sahul Hameed (65) drew the ire of his family and mocked at by many as mentally imbalanced, but he stood steadfast in giving shape to his innovation, a ‘moving type house’, using ‘raft foundation’ technology. A class V dropout, Mr. Hameed of Melapudukkudi near Thirupullani worked in a construction company in Saudi Arabia for more...

-The Hindu The National Medical Commission Bill’s proposal to permit ‘for profit’ colleges will undermine the aim of creating a cadre of medical professionals able and willing to work in small towns and villages The many reports commissioned by the Government of India on the state of medical care invariably highlight one fact: a large number of Indians do not have access to proper and adequate medical care. India currently faces a “double...

-PTI Nashik: A farmer from Karanjgaon village in Nashik district has claimed to have got the rate of 5 paise per kg for onions, prompting him to dump his produce of 13 quintals in his field in protest, even as a trader blamed “poor quality” of bulb for the low price. Sudhakar Darade, who hails from Niphad taluka, said his onions got valued at Rs. 5 per quintal (100 kg) at Saikheda...

-Frontline Medecins Sans Frontieres warns that the free or regional trade agreements that are being negotiated, which seek to strengthen current patent regimes, are a potential threat to the developing world’s access to life-saving drugs, which it sources mostly from India. WHEN NELSON MANDELA’S GOVERNMENT passed the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act in 1997 to make medicines more accessible to the poor, 39 big pharmaceutical companies filed law suits in...