-The Telegraph Jaipur: Death owes this to the living. In this desert state, it is once more the great leveller. It needed a prod from a blindfolded lady with scales, but social workers say it's a big step forward towards ending years of caste-based discrimination that did not even spare the dead. Maybe, not much longer. Here's the story. The Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) has "removed" signposts and covered boards at crematoriums that marked...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Government curbs power of regulator to cap HIV, cancer drug prices -Rupali Mukherjee
-The Times of India MUMBAI: In a move that will disappoint many patients, the government has withdrawn certain powers of the drug pricing regulator that allowed it to cap prices of widely prescribed anti-diabetes, cancer, HIV, tuberculosis and cardiac medicines. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) said it is withdrawing "with immediate effect" - a guideline that had allowed it to put price caps on crucial medicines - to comply with a...
More »Land conundrum and the hunger games -Prasanna Mohanty & Kaushik Dutta
-The Financial Express A mechanism is needed to compensate farmers for not exercising their right to sell productive land but continue to grow foodgrains. India finds itself in a piquant situation. While its population, and with it the number of poor, is growing, its cultivable land is not only shrinking, more worryingly, the economic returns of the agricultural use are diminishing vis-a-vis non-agricultural use. The situation may not be alarming right now,...
More »Maharashtra to shut almost 14,000 schools with less than 20 students -Aparna Pallavi
-Down to Earth While the state government aims to cut costs, children in remote tribal areas will be most affected After repeatedly putting off a decision on the matter, the Maharashtra government has finally decided to close down some 13,905 schools which have a student count of less than 20. Notices to this effect have already been sent to education officers in the state. Officials in the state's Directorate of Primary Education...
More »Undivided AP witnessed 2014 farmer suicides last year
-The Times of India HYDERABAD: In what could be seen a possible reflection of an agrarian crisis, 2014 farmers -- 1211 in Telangana and 803 farmers in Andhra -- committed suicide in the undivided state in 2013. The data provides a comprehensive analysis and break-up based on age, gender and districts on all farmers' suicides recorded last year. Among districts, Mahbubnagar topped the list in Telangana with 287 deaths and in Andhra, this...
More »