Religious and social groups have trampled on the freedom of expression of artists and scholars to serve their own agendas. “FOR all the big talk about India's great tradition of cultural and religious tolerance, many forces in the social life of our country and a number of established organisations, including the so-called non-political ones, have time and again resorted to blatant suppression of freedom of expression, pointing forcefully to the...

-The Telegraph The Centre today asked a panel of doctors to outline measures to improve drug approval procedures, three days after a parliamentary standing committee said India’s drug regulators had broken laws, ignoring the interests of patients. The panel announced by the Union health ministry has been asked to suggest steps to improve the procedural aspects of the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO), the agency entrusted with approving medicines for sale...

Doctors across India who encounter patients with tuberculosis will have to disclose the identity, age, sex, and address of each patient to local health authorities under an order issued this week by the Union health ministry. The health ministry said today that it is essential to have complete information as part of its efforts to ensure that patients receive proper diagnosis and therapy and to curb the emergence and spread of...

-The Times of India The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) is upbeat about fish and foodgrain production during the 12th Five Year Plan (FYP) period. While the current fish production - marine and inland is about 12 million tonnes and foodgrain production touched 250 million tonnes in last fiscal, ICAR's projection for fish production in 2017, when 12th FYP ends is 15-16 million tonnes. Foodgrain production target of the nation...

-The Hindu   “Need for regulatory space for MFIs so they function without affecting SHGs” The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) would connect at least one woman from every poor household across the country with self-help groups (SHGs) in five years, Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said on Friday. “The objective of the programme is to ensure that in a five-year period one woman from every poor household becomes a member of...