A World Health Organisation agency evaluates electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones for carcinogenicity. THERE has been a dramatic increase in the use of the mobile phone worldwide since its introduction in the mid-1980s. According to the estimate of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), currently there are about five billion mobile phone subscribers globally. In the past decade or so, there has been growing concern about the possibility of adverse health effects,...

Certain provisions in the rules notified under the IT Act cause concern about the security of sensitive personal information. ON April 11, the Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology notified new rules under the Information Technology Act, 2000, to regulate the use of the Internet. This led to widespread apprehensions that the government and private persons might gain free access to sensitive personal information concerning Internet users. The government, however,...

-The Economic Times   Farm credit flow has registered a quantum jump during 2010-11, accordign to figures put out by the government, although apprehensions have been expressed that there is urgent to enlist new loanees rather than give credit to time and again to the same borrowers. Credit institutions disbursed Rs. 4,26,531 crore during the year against the target of Rs.3,75,000 crore, an official statement said here. Agency-wise, Commercial Banks with...

-DNA   A media rights group has drawn a parallel between murders of Pakistani scribe Saleem Shahzad and senior Mumbai journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, saying both were targeted for their zeal to expose powerful elements. The South Asia Media Commission India asked the Maharashtra government to throw the entire might of the state administration behind the probe into the killing of Dey. The editor (special investigation) of English eveninger Mid-Day, who has extensively reported...

-The Times of India   Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Sunday created a flutter by endorsing civil society's demand to bring the prime minister and the higher judiciary under the ambit of Lokpal, taking the government and his party colleagues by surprise. "My view is that the prime minister, judiciary, NGOs and industrial houses should also be brought under the ambit of Lokpal. But there should be a system to ensure...