THEY DARED TO DO THEIR DUTY: THEY HAVE BEEN KILLED AND HARASSED FOR IT. PERHAPS THERE is a reason why Sanjiv Chaturvedi’s journey begins in the small dusty town of Kurukshetra, for his story is as epic a battle between good and evil, his journey as much a pursuit of Dharma. Only, he is the sole Pandava on this battlefront, and he is the one who called the war. It was...

For non-compliance, clinical establishments may face fine up to Rs. 5 lakh  Private facilities often refer accident victims to government hospitals to avoid legal hassles All clinical establishments will have to register with State Council The Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation Act) Bill, 2010 — approved by the Union Cabinet last month — makes it mandatory for all clinical establishments to provide medical care and treatment to stabilise any person in an...

Dr U Jaikumaran is breathless with excitement over the phone. “The next five days will be hectic and crucial in our war against hunger. We have to transplant rice on 300 acres in just five days.” Dr Jaikumaran, a professor at the Kerala Agriculture University (KAU), has been building a Food Security Army (FSA) – men and women in green uniforms organised into nine regiments and 24 battalions – who are...

Defending the alternative model for undergraduate medical education to create a separate cadre of “rural doctors,” Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Thursday that the scheme would not compromise with the quality of medical education or reduce the importance of trained and specialised doctors. Inaugurating a two-day national workshop here to discuss the programme for starting a specialised course of Bachelor of Rural Medicine and...

The controversy generated by Bt brinjal, the first genetically modified (GM) food crop, has thrown up several important issues concerning GM crops, the role of regulators and of global corporate interests in agribusiness. These related issues are as important as that pertaining to the safety of GM food. Firstly, the questions raised on different aspects of testing and risk evaluation have brought the technical competence of the Genetic Engineering Approval...