A report by a parliamentary committee has shown that the drug industry regulator, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), has been approving, on average, one new drug a month without conducting mandatory clinical trials or seeking expert medical opinion—findings that expose the deep flaws prevalent in India’s drug approval process. The committee has asked the health ministry to withdraw the discretionary powers given to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization...

Prolonged captivity of hostages & perceived helplessness of government have adverse impact on psyche of society Maoists may be patting themselves on their back for forcing the Chhattisgarh and Odisha governments to give into their demands in exchange for those abducted by them, but kidnap as a tool of revolutionary warfare could prove to be counter-productive to them. The prolonged captivity of hostages and the perceived helplessness of the government, which fears...

Alarmed by its proactive role, the three ‘pillars’ of our democracy set out to weaken the fourth estate Fundamentalisms do not necessarily announce their arrival by banging a hammer on our heads. Freedoms are often lost in little steps. The process creeps in quietly but insidiously. The path is often complex and defies a simple narrative. But here’s a straightforward fact: a concerted attempt is being made to censor, control...

-The Economic Times Springing a surprise, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday said the Kudankulam nuclear power project is all set to go on stream within 10 days. "Within 10 days we will start the project," an optimistic Jayalalithaa said after participating in the chief ministers' conference in New Delhi. Senior officials at the Nuclear Power Corporation Limited, however, did not share the CM's enthusiasm about the short deadline for...

The exploitation of migrant construction workers has grown alongside the expansion of the industry. It's time the government got serious about upholding the law. A recent report in The Hindu on the violation of labour laws at a massive construction site belonging to the Army Welfare Housing Organisation in Bangalore raises yet again the repeated neglect of regulations relating to the employment and welfare of workers by construction companies in India. For...