-PTI The passage of the Lokpal bill is set to be delayed further with a Parliamentary committee examining the legislation likely to seek an extension till the beginning of the Winter session of Parliament. The Rajya Select Committee on Lokpal/Lokayukta Bill which met today is learnt to have decided to seek an extension of its term to complete the examination of the measure. The term of the panel ends on September 3 and...

-The Hindu Following resistance to the ban on tourism in core areas of tiger reserves by several States, NGOs and interested parties, the Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted the Centre to review existing norms and come up with comprehensive guidelines on ‘Tiger Project’ and ‘sustainable tourism.’ A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar gave this permission after Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati drew the court’s attention to the objections received and...

-The Economic Times MUMBAI: India, the world's largest exporter of morphine sulphate, has very little of the drug to offer its terminally ill patients suffering from cancer and HIV. The supply of morphine, a narcotic pain reliever used for treating pain, is severely constrained in local hospitals and retail stores due to stringent laws that prevent and hinder companies from making and transporting the final product. Morphine sulphate is a byproduct of...

-The Hindu Imperative to collect and analyse data in such cases India calls them its future. But as lakhs of children are kidnapped across the country each year, pushed into sex or organ trade or bonded labour, precious little is being done to find and restore them to their parents. For these children, it is living through the worst nightmare. Getting lost in markets and seeing strange faces all around may put a...

-The Indian Express Patna: Over 16,000 hysterectomies (surgical removal of the uterus), most of them “unnecessary”, have been reported at private hospitals across Bihar during the last one year allegedly to “avail insurance benefit” under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna.   The RSBY was launched by the Centre in April 2008. Preliminary investigation by Samastipur, Madhubani and Chhapra district authorities, which reported the maximum number of complaints, showed 10,000 hysterectomies took place in these...