-Governance Now A CAG report dated March 15, 2013 had found Uttarakhand sitting on a time bomb, with nearly zero disaster preparedness back in Sept 2012 when the nationwide performance audit was done. Will other states, marked equally poorly in the audit, sit up and smell the coffee? The massive disaster in Uttarakhand has brought to the fore not only the old debate of ecology versus development but also thrown up...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A Delhi government circular that excludes migrant children from availing quota facility under the economically weaker section (EWS) category is under the scanner of Delhi high court. Justice G S Sistani recently issued notice to the Delhi government and sought its response on the validity of the circular. HC was hearing a petition filed by a street vendor seeking EWS benefits for her five-year-old child and...

-The Business Standard Angelina Jolie has inadvertently highlighted a key question about patenting Angelina Jolies recent double mastectomy was obviously a very radical decision. It is unusual for a healthy person to opt for pre-emptive surgery to avert the probability, however high it may be, of getting cancer. The tests Jolie relied on are also at the heart of a legal battle, which could affect US biotech patenting norms. Since the US...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: US business leader and philanthropist Bill Gates met Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday to discuss healthcare issues, including India's low healthcare expenditure. "There were discussions on healthcare and vaccination. He appreciated the progress in immunization programme in India," a senior planning commission official told ET. India's 12th Five Year plan has projected to increase healthcare spending to 2.5% of GDP compared to little...

-The Times of India LONDON: India's Gangetic river dolphin and wild elephants figure in the latest 100 top mammals on the verge of extinction. The Zoological Society of London have for the first time scored the world's mammals according to how Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) they are. The list that includes the world's most extraordinary threatened species - frogs that give birth through their skin and mammals that are immune to...