-The Telegraph In a primary health centre in eastern Jharkhand, the angry shouts of a nurse punctuated the occasional wails of a woman in her early-20s who was in labour pain and only minutes away from delivering her baby. Each time a uterine contraction evoked a yell or a wail or the woman sought a more comfortable position during labour, the nurse or other health workers admonished her, asking her to shut...

-The Hindu CAG’s concept of presumptive loss flawed: Chidambaram Upset at the “unreasonable” disruption of Parliament by the BJP on the issue of allocation of coal blocks and the CAG report, the government went on the offensive on Friday, terming totally flawed the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s concept of presumptive loss and maintaining that no loss took place because the coal was still unexploited. “The policy for allocation of coal blocks has been the...

-The Indian Express In a reference to the row over the allocation of coal blocks, Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia today questioned whether the Centre should have the power to “override” policies framed by state governments. Making it clear that he was not commenting on the merits of the case, Justice Kapadia said scams needed to be analysed through the constitutional principles of federalism and centre-state relations. In this context,...

-Frontline Health activists say the health chapter of the Twelfth Plan document exaggerates the role of the private sector in providing health care. The draft chapter on health for the Twelfth Five Year Plan document not only is grossly inadequate in its approach but exaggerates to unrealistic levels the role of the private sector in providing health care. It invokes the concept of universal health care (UHC), but, critics say, it...

-The Economic Times The government is ready to give up its monopoly over coal mining to meet the requirements of the economy, if BJP supports a long-pending legislation to amend the Coal Mine Nationalisation Act (CMNA). "We are ready to take up the bill and open up the coal sector to increase production. This is the only way forward and there is a consensus within the government on this. Once BJP comes...