-The Business Standard Confusion over clinical trial compensation norms Even as the health ministry is evaluating a formula to compensate victims of clinical trials, an expert committee, headed by Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, has recommended some stringent measures that appear contrary to the formula under consideration. The committee, set up by the ministry to formulate policy and guidelines for clinical trials, has suggested that no compensation be given for therapeutic inefficiency during clinical trials...

-The Hindu The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General underscoring the blatant violation of conservation laws and Supreme Court orders in the diversion of forests for destructive non-forestry use confirms what former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said about the system: it's a bit of a joke. The compensatory afforestation mechanism instituted to balance the devastating loss of natural forests has failed abysmally. The CAG's report is proof that India's...

-The Hindu Central law has provisions that only justifies the age-old practice Chennai: There is a law, a court order and a committee. The Centre passed the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012 on Saturday. However, the death of 30 workers in 30 months since February 2012 in Tamil Nadu seems to suggest that nothing is able to prevent the abominable practice. Most of those who died were workers...

-The Economic Times In the leaky system of welfare delivery, databases are the newest valve that governments are installing to ensure that benefits reach those-and only those -they are intended for. Since December 2012, for instance, the government of Madhya Pradesh has been appending on to the Centre's Socio Economic and Caste Census a host of household-level data: bank account numbers, NREGA card numbers, welfare entitlements, land ownership, whether their house is...

-AP WASHINGTON: Millions of sex-selective abortions in India have skewed gender ratios, and the origins of the problem can be traced to American-supported population control strategies decades ago, a US congressional panel heard Tuesday. Republican Rep. Chris Smith, a staunch opponent of abortion, took up the issue at the House subcommittee on global health and human rights at a hearing titled, "India's Missing Girls." The panel has often been a forum for tough...