-The Hindu     They used a legal loophole to violate environmental norms Ninety-four of the 192 iron ore mining leases in Odisha do not have the mandatory environmental clearances. And of the 96 that did have them, 75 have mined far beyond their permitted levels over the past several years, the Justice M.B. Shah Commission report on illegal iron and manganese ore mining has said. The Hindu has accessed parts of the report,...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Many doctors across India have been offered prepaid cash cards as gifts by drug industry representatives over the past three years to try and influence prescriptions for patients, pharmaceuticals sales executives have said. While drug companies have long used largesse as "brand reminders" for doctors, a prepaid cash card leaked by an industry whistleblower appears to be the first evidence to suggest doctors are also being offered cash...

-The Business Standard Does the Indian government's loud voice in international negotiations lead to results? At the recent Word Trade Organisation (WTO) meet in Bali, the Indian government went, with all guns blazing, to defend the rights of the country's farmers and to secure food security for millions of poor people. It opposed the Agreement on Agriculture, which limits government food procurement to 10 per cent of the value of total...

-Economic and Political Weekly   Coarse cereals such as pearl millet and sorghum, the hardiest and least risky cereals, are mainly grown in India's arid and semi-arid regions. These crops possess high nutritive and foddeR Value and are primarily consumed by their producers. On the supply side, there has been a large shift in the area under cultivation to rice and wheat and other commercial crops. On the demand side, the distribution...

-The Hindu     While the definition of rape is now expanded, the new enactment has taken us dangerously in the direction of a sexual security regime than toward more rights A year after the gruesome gang rape and murder of the young woman on the streets of Delhi comes a moment to pause and reflect on the gains and losses that triggered the response to this event and several others involving issues of...