-The Indian Express India's record is particularly distressing when it comes to representation of women in Parliament and their labour force participation. It is three years Wednesday, since the brutal Delhi gang-rape seared the country’s conscience. The outrage that followed led many to believe that this could be the catalyst that would bring about radical change in India’s endemic gender disparity. However, the recently-released Gender Inequality Index tells a sorry tale...

-DNA Despite a certain amount of progress in the past decade or so, the report points out glaring gaps in healthcare infrastructure in the country -- "low resource allocation, low emphasis on primary health care, poor utilisation of human resources," as Professor K Srinath Reddy, one of the co-authors said. Yet another report on India's troubled health care system pointed out the country's poor performance across health indicators, despite economic advantages....

-The Indian Express Open agricultural burning, a common practice in north and northwest India, releases black carbon due to insufficient combustion. The burning of agricultural waste around Delhi that is causing air pollution in the capital is also contributing significantly to the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas, a new study has suggested. Open agricultural burning, a common practice in north and northwest India, releases black carbon due to insufficient combustion. These...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a move that comes as a huge relief to patients of chronic Hepatitis C, the apex committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has granted a waiver of local trials for crucial new direct-acting antiviral drugs treating the disease. The waiver for sofosbuvir and ledipasvir co-formulation and for daclatasvir is expected to bring the generic version of these drugs, which cost a fraction...

-Hindustan Times Bettiah/Bagaha: Bihar’s Mandate 2015 has been billed as a choice between good governance and a return to ‘jungle raj’ (rule of the wild). But what matters most for the marginalised tribes in the state is going back to the days when they enjoyed their jungle rights. The 899 sq km Valmiki National Park along the Nepal border in West Champaran district is Bihar’s only tiger reserve. The fringes of this...