National AIDS Control Programme urged to move beyond medicine-centric approach The government programmes for children suffering from HIV/AIDS should move from medicine-centric approach to include nutrition and preventive care, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has recommended. In its recently released report ‘Rights and entitlements of children affected and infected by HIV/AIDS 2010-11’, the organisation also advocated provisions for issuing BPL cards to children who have lost their...

-The Hindu The Central Bureau of Investigation told the Supreme Court on Friday that the killings of Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, spokesperson of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), and journalist Hemchandra Pandey by the Andhra Pradesh police on the night of July 1, 2010 were not a fake encounter as alleged in the petitions filed in the court. The CBI made the submission in its final investigation report filed before a...

-PTI Nagaland's rural development departmenthas so far received over Rs 600 crore for implementation of flagship rural employment guarantee programme during the current year. Nearly Rs 574 crore had been received as central assistance and Rs 27.35 crore as state matching share under the rural employment scheme so far during the current year, Parliamentary Secretary for rural development Pangnyu Phom informed the house today. Stating that there were nearly 3.69 lakh job card...

-The Times of India Five policemen and nearly half-a-dozen farmers were injured in a clash at Bhamashah Krishi Upaj Mandi (BKUM) in Kota on Wednesday. Following the death of a 'mandi' accountant in the afternoon, farmers and accountants resorted to a violent protest against BKUM office bearers. They allegedly attacked the association's secretaryJawahar Lal Nagar and additional secretaryNarendra Kumar Swarnkar. They even set fire to Swarnkar's car. When the police tried to intervene,...

Compulsory licence can go a long way to ensure access to cheaper drugs In a momentous development, the Indian patent office issued the ever-compulsory licence in a highly contentious pharmaceutical patent case. The decision is a thumping victory for several patients and health activists who have been fighting what can only be labelled as highly inequitable pricing strategies by multinational drug firms for the past several decades. In August 2011, Natco, an...