-The Hindu The new Bill should pitch for free care to mental health patients in public hospitals. Persons with mental illness have long been subjected to cruelty, neglect, ridicule and stigma. In the last half-century, medical science has made significant strides in finding some cures and palliatives for afflictions of the mind – of emotion, mood, thinking and behaviour. Parallel to this is the evolution in our ethical frameworks: of human rights,...

-CNN-IBN When I was asked to travel to Haryana for a ground report on the sudden spurt in the number of rape cases being reported from the state, I frankly didn't think the story was worth much. The number stood at eight rapes in about 25 days...eight was just a figure, a number, a statistic...I didn't see a story, I didn't see the trauma, I didn't see the pain. The night...

-The Indian Express The government’s proposal to price-control certain drugs will create more problems than it will solve From Clothes to cars, prices of consumer products the world over are determined taking into account input costs, margins and competition, popularly called the cost-based pricing system. Departing from this sound, fair, tried and tested principle of commerce, the government’s new drug pricing policy, approved by the Group of Ministers headed by Sharad Pawar,...

-The Indian Express Families of Ahmed and Iqbal claimed they were detained in Jammu. The Special Cell had alleged that the ‘terrorists’ had been arrested outside Dilli Haat in South Delhi carrying arms On April 20, 2007, Mohd Shafi’s son Shabbir had gone on his regular trip to Jammu from their home in Bhadarwah, Doda District, to buy utensils for their crockery shop. When he did not return, Shafi went to Jammu...

-Countercurrents.org I am Neena secretary of Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association Manipur (EEVFAM). On 4 November 2008 after enjoying a family lunch, my husband Nongmaithem Michael, went to a friend’s helping him to set up his father’s shradha ceremony. Around 3 p.m. he got a phone call and left the place. At 3.32 p.m. I received a call from him saying that he was apprehended and told me to inform his sister...