HIV prevalence in India and South Asia is growing among sex workers and other high risk groups due to widespread failure to prevent stigmatising of people living with AIDS, according to a new report. Despite prevention and other efforts to reduce high-risk behaviours such as unprotected sex, buying and selling of sex, and injecting drug use, HIV vulnerability and risk remain high, says the report by a team from the...

The lengths to which a government body can go to harass a whistleblower is evident from an RTI reply that discloses it paid Rs 69.24 lakh in lawyers' fees over an 18-month period and the bulk of the money went to Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Responding to whistleblower Abhijit Ghosh, Central Bank of India disclosed on July 1 that it had spent the money on lawyers from October 2008...

For years now, at least since India passed amendments to the Patent Act to allow product patents in 2005, patents on drugs have coloured and overwhelmed the debate on health issues in the country. Now, the issue of patents on seeds and agriculture inputs promises to become the hot new topic. An indication is the response to a news report “Battle royal over Bt cotton royalty” (May 28, Business Standard)...

In the absence of whole-hearted steps to implement the provisions effectively, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 is falling short of expectations.  The Delhi High Court ruled recently that a woman can also be held liable under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005. This the court did on the basis of the interpretation that ‘relatives' included not only male but also female members of...

For us, it was Eveready. During my growing-up years in Bhopal, where my father was posted, the Union Carbide factory was not too far from our place off the railway colony. It was not an object of interest or curiosity because it looked just like the humungous power station opposite our house. Nobody could figure out why it was called Eveready although the plant was set up to make pesticides and...