-TheWire.in Data on caste-based violence in metropolitan cities confirms the grim reality that sits at odds with the narrative of an aspiring global superpower. A mention of violence against Dalits on account of their caste readily bring forth images from rural or small-town India; depending on our vintage these could be from late 1970s’ horrific Belchi and Pipra massacres, or of the more recent public flogging of Dalits in Una, Gujarat. We...

-TheWire.in Discrepancies between Election Commission and Electronics Corporation of India Limited data on number of ballot units and control units manufactured have also been revealed. New Delhi: The response by the Election Commission (EC) and two electronic voting machine (EVM) manufacturers – Electronics Corporation of India Limited and Bharat Electronics Limited – to an Right to Information (RTI) query relating to a petition filed following the Uttarakhand polls has revealed administrative and...

-Press release from NREGA Sangharsh Morcha The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Swaraj Abhiyan in the Supreme Court on the severe drought conditions in the country had drawn the attention of the Court to the inadequate effort of the Central and state governments in implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), amongst other welfare programmes. In its last judgment on issues of MGNREGA workers on 13 May...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Health activists campaigning for affordable treatment on Wednesday urged the Narendra Modi government to resist "pressure" from foreign medical device makers and expand price caps to new classes of medical devices. The All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), a consortium of non-government activists' groups, said it was concerned that a body of foreign medical device manufacturers had petitioned the US government seeking suspension or withdrawal of certain trade...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Doctors who receive gifts from pharmaceutical companies are more likely to prescribe expensive versions of medicines and more drugs per patient, a US study released on Wednesday suggested. The study is among the first to quantitatively measure the impacts of such gifts and challenges claims by sections of pharmaceutical industry executives that industry gifts are not intended to influence prescriptions doctors write. Health policy researchers who analysed prescription patterns...