-PTI GWALIOR: Rural Development Ministry would join hands with a leading defence research organisation to push eco-friendly bio-toilets in villages in four states where the menace of open defecation remained unaddressed. Impressed by the achievement of the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) in developing low cost bio-toilets, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh today said that members of Women Self Help Groups from Bihar, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh would be...

-Down to Earth   Quota for free treatment of economically weaker sections in private hospitals under-utilised; less than half of the children referred from government hospitals get treatment in these places Children from the economically weaker sections (EWS) in Delhi are unable to avail treatment at private hospitals despite the fact that these hospitals have reserved beds and out-patient department facilities for people from EWS category. This is the finding of a survey conducted...

-The Hindu The quality of mercy, Shakespeare would be disappointed to learn, seems highly strained in India. If Maganlal Barela, a convict on death row in Jabalpur Central Jail, is still alive, he has a newspaper report that broke the story of his imminent hanging to thank for the temporary reprieve. Barela was sentenced to death in 2011 by the Madhya Pradesh High Court for murdering his five infant daughters,...

-Live Mint The mid-day scheme is underpinned by a rent-seeking chain that keeps all the major stakeholders satisfied The mid-day meal (MDM) tragedy in Chhapra once again focuses attention on the low-level equilibrium that our public systems are trapped in. Consider these facts. Apart from rice, which has to be collected from the local ration shop, the MDM programme allocates each primary and upper-primary child Rs3.11 and Rs4.65, respectively to purchase pulses,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre is all set to legally lock horns with the Supreme Court by questioning the court's powers to call for judicial scrutiny the President's exercise of constitutional power to grant pardon or commute sentences of condemned prisoners. "The decision of the President under Article 72 of the Constitution, either accepting or rejecting a petition, is a sovereign act. This sovereign act is performed after the...