-The Hindu Without adequate preparations for its consequences, the State has gone ahead with the merger of small schools with the larger ones. Is there a way out? The Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani's act of consulting an astrologer in Rajasthan may be a personal choice, but her mention of possible amendments to the Right to Education (RTE) Act has definitely created a mess in the State. While she has...

-Deccan Chronicle Chennai: Farmers have been hit by an acute shortage of fertilisers at the height of the paddy growing season in the state. Due to shortage of fertilisers, they are forced to buy urea and DAP at double the cost in the open market, said MDMK general secretary Vaiko. In a statement here, Mr Vaiko said last year, through cooperative societies, urea was sold at a cost of Rs 270...

-The Pioneer The Modi Government has set March 2017 deadline to provide safe drinking water in country's 17,995 habitations where rural people are being forced to consume contaminated water - laced with fluoride, arsenic and heavy toxic metals - causing major health problems. To achieve this, the Union Ministry of Water and Sanitation has outlined a two-pronged strategy entailing installation of community water purification plants or through piped water supply from alternate...

-Economic and Political Weekly The National Democratic Alliance government has constituted the IPR Think Tank which, among other things, is to draft the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy. India may not have a policy per se but it has a strong legislation on IPRs, a functioning patents office and mechanisms to grant patents as well as protect consumer interests. The Think Tank has other issues it needs to address, but is...

-The Hindu Over 95 per cent of patients coming to super-speciality hospitals are at the wrong place and have incurred hardships when they could have been treated at their neighbourhood primary care centre. A number of announcements have been made by the Central and State Governments on their intent to offer Universal Health Care (UHC). These welcome developments are timely as India is now rapidly becoming one of the few countries that...