-The Telegraph Washington: The Supreme Court of America on Monday agreed to consider reviving a lawsuit by Indian villagers seeking to hold a Washington-based international financial institution responsible for widespread environmental damage they blame on a power plant it financed. The justices will hear an appeal by the villagers of a lower court ruling that the International Finance Corp (IFC) was immune from such lawsuits under federal law. IFC, part of the World...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A panel of doctors has called for changes to the rules banning prenatal sex determination, warning they are depriving rural populations of easy access to the point-of-care ultrasound scans (pocus) needed to diagnose and treat critically ill patients. Doctors associated with the Jan Swasthya Sahyog, which runs a rural hospital in Chhattisgarh, have recommended technology and better policing to improve access to the scans and curb their misuse...

-The Hindu The 15th Finance Commission has to take a call on the degree of equalisation that’s feasible In the context of the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission (FFC), certain key aspects relate to (a) the mandate for using the 2011 population; (b) ‘whether revenue deficit grants’ be given at all; (c) the impact of the goods and services tax (GST) on the finances of the Centre and...

-Hindustan Times Revving motors, ceaseless honking, blaring music are taking a toll on those who live or work around busy roads. New Delhi: Dust mixed with toxic fumes from vehicular exhausts exacerbate lung and heart diseases and trigger death from heart attack, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung infections like pneumonia, and cancers of the lung and respiratory tract. What is less known is that traffic noise adds to this incessant vehicular assault...

-The Indian Express Yogendra Yadav said that a greater crop procurement often means lower prices and in the process, ends up hurting the already distressed farmer. New Delhi: A day after Haryana’s Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Om Prakash Dhankar announced that the state has recorded a ‘bumper’ wheat crop this year, Swaraj Abhiyan Leader Yogendra Yadav on Wednesday said that these statistics mean little to the farmers. “Unfortunately, state policy on...