-PTI Washington: A global media watchdog has urged the Indian government to ban a group of nationalists targeting "biased" journalists online, saying the harassment of those who don't toe the line of the ruling party was reaching "alarming proportions". The watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said that with the general election nearing, journalists must be able to express themselves without having to fear for their physical or professional survival. "Otherwise, Indian democracy...

-TheCitizen.in Dam failure a real fear The current floods in Kerala are unprecedented and clearly a national disaster. In the midst of this disaster, there is fear for the structural safety of the Mullaperiyar dam on the Periyar river. Madras Engineers Colonel John Pennycuick commenced construction of this 173-ft high dam in 1887, and it was commissioned in 1895. This gravity dam was considered an engineering marvel of those times. With the dam’s...

-PTI NEW DELHI: A parliamentary committee looking into the issue of mounting non-performing assets (NPAs) has asked former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan to appear before it and brief on the matter. Rajan was invited after former Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian praised him before the Parliament's Committee on Estimates, headed by veteran BJP leader Murali Manohar Joshi, for identifying the NPA crisis and trying to resolve it. Joshi has written a letter...

-TheWire.in The Ayushman Bharat scheme provides support to the most deprived portion of India’s population and engages private insurance players, positive steps that must be welcomed. In his speech on the 72nd Independence Day this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarked that India’s economy, once a sleeping elephant is now running. The same cannot, however be said about the healthcare system of India. This elephant is malnourished, weak, diseased and lumbering at...

-PTI As per the back series data on GDP, Indian economy clocked a 10.08 per cent growth rate in 2006-07, the highest since liberalisation of the economy in 1991 New Delhi: Amid ongoing controversy over the back series GDP figures showing better economic performance during the UPA regime, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Sunday said "these are not official estimates" and the data will be released officially later. As...