-The Indian Express The Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai told a meeting of the World Economic Forum that the “brazenness” with which government decisions were being taken is “actually appalling”. A day before that, he had told students in Shillong that the “suffering majority had begun to speak up”. In times when corruption is the central issue and the government evidently suffers from a credibility deficit, the statements...

-The Times of India It's raining sops for the poor. The government is making treatment of people below the poverty line suffering from mental disorders and diabetes free at government or public super speciality hospitals like AIIMS. Yesterday, TOI had reported the government's plan to gift cell phones to the poor. In the maiden endorsement of India's swelling burden of patients suffering from mental disorders, the ministry has included it under the Rashtriya...

-The Times of India SHILLONG: At least 10 workers were feared dead in a coalpit in Meghalaya's South Garo Hills district because of unscientific mining.  Last Friday, 25 miners got trapped in a 100-m deep coal mine at Nengkhol village in the district when they accidentally punctured the wall of an abandoned mine, which was full of acidic water. While 15 of them managed to come out of the pit, the rest...

Regulations covering public health should override personal rights and the country cannot wait any more for a good public health law. The health care industry, including institutions of medical education, hospitals and pharmaceutical businesses, have grown into behemoths that can do considerable harm in the absence of independent and effective regulatory systems. While there are no success stories in the regulation of any kind of industry in India, I will focus...

-The Times of India The Assam government on Thursday declared the current floods in the state as the worst since 2004. So far 23 people have died in the calamity even as the army, IAF and the National Disaster Response Force of BSF have been pressed into service for rescue and relief operations. Government spokesman and agriculture minister Nilamoni Sen Deka said, "The government is making all necessary efforts to help the...