-The Business Standard E-waste disposal cannot ignore the informal sector The deadline for the enforcement of new electronic waste (e-waste) management norms is just a month or so away. And yet, most of the sector’s stakeholders seem quite unprepared. The E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, notified almost a year ago as coming into effect from May 1 this year, require producers of electronic and white goods to take back their products...

-AP   Efforts by India and the European Union to strengthen trade are threatening India's ability to deliver lifesaving medicines to the world's poorest, analysts say as the two sides push through protracted negotiations on a free-trade pact.  India's prime minister and top EU officials are hoping their summit Friday in New Delhi helps move beyond disagreements over issues like European labor market limits and Indian duties on cars.  But health industry workers and...

-AFP Later this month, India will be removed from a dwindling list of countries where polio is considered endemic, a huge achievement made possible by people like Madara, a 76-year-old street hawker.  At a temporary immunisation camp in a slum in the northern district of Ghaziabad, 23 kilometres (14 miles) from New Delhi, he is busy at work shepherding boisterous children into queues.  All around, social workers break open tiny bottles containing a...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today expressed anguish over the tendency to circumvent court orders instead of honouring them. The court said this while dealing with contempt petitions filed against some gutkha manufacturers for not abiding by its order to switch to non-plastic sachets. The court had earlier issued contempt notices against Rajeev Kumar, the MD of the Dharampal Satyapal group, which manufactures two popular pan masala brands — Rajnigandha and Tulsi —...

At a time when paper and plastic money is the pivot of pecuniary transactions, a postgraduate in statistics from Ranchi University has turned the age-old barter system into the bedrock of a unique cradle in a hamlet on the outskirts of the capital. Students of Bhavna Vikas Vidyalaya at Konki village in Kanke block, some 20km from Ranchi, are basking in academic glory in lieu of vegetables. Yes, you heard that...