-The Times of India MUMBAI: Certain medicines are being aggressively marketed in India despite inadequate evidence of safety and efficacy, putting patients at risk, said reputed medical journal Lancet. Highlighting weak regulation and monitoring of the domestic drug industry, three recently-introduced medicines are being prescribed and sold though there is a lack of rigorous trials on crucial safety and efficacy parameters. The pharmaceutical industry in India should face the same stringent regulations...

-Hindustan Times Millions of domestic migrants in India may soon get to vote in elections in their native areas without leaving their places of employment if a government proposal to extend Postal ballot facilities to them is successful. Sources said a committee of ministers has been asked to examine the possibility of allowing the choice of Postal ballots — both electronically and through proxy voters — to domestic migrant labourers and workers,...

-Outlook And how to dispel these misconceptions using the government’s own data. There are many misconceptions about the "aadhaar" number. Many people believe that this project is essential for poor people, better implementation of government programmes and so on. This note dispels these misconceptions using the government's own data. Here are the five most popular myths. 1. The UID project will help give a valid ID to millions of Indians who do...

-Livemint.com India needs to invest more in developing rural infrastructure The script is familiar. After borrowing heavily for inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, farmers in most parts of India wait for the monsoon. When the rain fails, the farmers’ agony begins. Forced migration to cities in search of manual work, distress sales of land and, in extreme cases, suicides are the way out. This kharif season has a distressingly familiar ring...

-The New Indian Express The recent socio-economic and caste census (SECC) 2011 data on deprivations is profoundly disquieting. At the global level too, the latest data on economic inequality is equally disconcerting. That 75 per cent of rural households in India earn less than Rs 5,000 per month or around Rs 33 per capita per day and that over 40 per cent are landless and work as manual casual labourers even...