-PTI In a bid to end exploitation of tribals, Government on Wednesday said it is formulating a scheme to ensure they get fair and remunerative prices for forest produce and working towards passage of a law on mines and minerals. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also said that the government is considering a "new and effective" law to put an end to the "repulsive practice" of manual scavenging and to provide opportunities to...

-PTI The Goa government has decided to implement stringent Regulations on the mining industry in the state from August 15 onwards, with an aim to curtail unregulated and illegal mining in the state. Directorate of Mines and Geology in its letter to the association of mine owners, exporters and barges (ship carrying ore) owners has asked them to adhere to the new Regulations, failing which strict action is prescribed in the notification. As...

-The Indian Express The government has, over the past one month, prohibited 4,139 NGOs from receiving contributions from sources overseas. The largest block of NGOs who have been shackled — 794, or about 19 per cent of the total — are based in Tamil Nadu, ground zero of the NGO-led protests against the Kudankulam atomic power plant. The government has published the list of NGOs who have lost their Foreign Contribution Regulation...

-The Business Standard State must get out of insulin price-setting The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, or NPPA, has turned down the request of drug companies to raise insulin prices. Domestic insulin-makers Biocon and Cadila had argued that the cost of production and packaging had become higher, and multinational corporation Eli Lilly wanted the depreciation in the rupee vis-à-vis the dollar to be factored into the price. The NPPA says it has...

-The Guardian US leaders worked hard to tackle the 1930s drought and food crisis. Today they are supine, offering the hungry only prayers If you're wondering whether the US drought will create a global food crisis, the answer's easy. It's yes, because there's a food crisis already. The latest year for which we have figures is 2010, when 925 million people were declared malnourished. Soon after the number was announced, the World...