-The Economic Times MUMBAI: India, the world's largest exporter of morphine sulphate, has very little of the drug to offer its terminally ill patients suffering from cancer and HIV. The supply of morphine, a narcotic pain reliever used for treating pain, is severely constrained in local hospitals and retail stores due to stringent laws that prevent and hinder companies from making and transporting the final product. Morphine sulphate is a byproduct of...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Centre for its callousness in not enacting a law to ban manual scavenging despite giving repeated assurances that it would soon amend the relevant Act. Earlier, Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval told a Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu and C.K. Prasad that the Cabinet note was ready for bringing amendments to the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition)...

-The Hindu The Comptroller and Auditor-General’s report on the allocation of coal blocks, reviews how it took seven-and-half years to move the allocation procedure for captive coal blocks from a discretionary procedure to competitive bidding that was demonstrably transparent. It turns out that the process began within six weeks of UPA-I coming to power in 2004. Ironically, the amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act rules for auction...

-Pratirodh Bureau Activists led by Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar have alleged that the much awaited Land Acquisition Bill was actually a "diluted version" of the Standing Committee's recommended bill.   The activists under belonging to various groups, including National Alliance of People’s Movements, National Forum of Forest people and Forest Workers, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti and Sangharsh claimed that the "positive" position taken by the Standing Committee had been diluted by the...

-The Hindustan Times The UPA government’s economic policies have resulted in record reduction of poverty over the last two years, with the individual’s monthly expenditure rising by around 18% per annum, the highest since 1987, government data released a week before the Parliament’s monsoon session claimed. The government’s National Sample Survey Organisation released the provisional data of the Household Consumer Expenditure Survey for 2011-12 on Wednesday. The study is the most crucial...