-Live Mint The food security Bill could be taken up by Parliament in the first part of the budget session, which is set to start next month The politically sensitive food security Bill could be taken up by Parliament in the first part of the budget session, set to start next month, after the food ministry took a remarkably brief one week to consider and accept almost all the recommendations on the...

-IPS News When India was admitted to the world’s nuclear power industry nearly five years ago, many believed that this country had found a way to quickly wean itself away from dependence on coal and other fossil fuels that power its economic growth. After all, India already had a home-grown nuclear power industry that was producing about 4,000 megawatts of power from 19 nuclear reactors, defying a United States-led embargo on nuclear...

-The Times of India Every few days, Rajkumar Sharma, manager of a group housing society in Noida, makes the mandatory trip to the nearby petrol pump to pick up his quota of diesel. A few days back, even as he was on his 'diesel duty' as he calls it, he was making some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations. "Our average monthly consumption is around 400 litres which means a monthly expenditure of around...

-Frontine The finalised chapter on health in the 12th Plan document envisages a large role for the private sector in health care. A chapter on health prepared for the draft 12th Five Year Plan Document in July received a lot of criticism for its limited understanding of universal health care and its diluted commitment to increase public expenditure on health. If the revised version is any indication, there has not been...

-Agence-France Presse Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has said that the country's public health system had "collapsed" in a blunt assessment of his government's failure to extend a social safety net for the poor. Mr Ramesh, known as a maverick with often outspoken views, stressed that 70 per cent of spending on health was out of people's own pockets, making it the single most important reason for indebtedness in rural areas. "We all...