-The Business Standard Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi professor and development economist Reetika Khera tells Sreelatha Menon that the food Bill may not be a leap ahead, but it is certainly a step forward * The food Bill is a guarantee for lifelong dependence on government doles. As an economist, can one defend such a policy? The food Bill should be seen as an investment. "Labour" is India's most important asset. In that sense,...

-PTI A woman, who had alleged that she was raped and had consequently conceived, was allowed to abort the baby by the Delhi High Court which termed it as "extremely traumatic" and asked AIIMS to preserve the foetus for conducting DNA test. "To carry a child in her womb by a woman as a result of conception through an act of rape is extremely traumatic, humiliating and psychologically devastating," Justice S P...

-PTI Nearly 2,000 children around the globe, under the age of five, die every day from diarrhoeal diseases linked to unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene, with 24 per cent of the deaths occurring in India alone, a U.N. report has warned. Globally, an estimated 2,000 children under the age of five die every day from diarrhoeal diseases and of these some 1,800 deaths are linked to water, sanitation and hygiene,...

-Live Mint HRD minister says government will push for the fulfilment of RTE's conditions even after deadline ends A week before the implementation deadline for its flagship Right to Education (RTE) Act expires, the government on Friday accepted that it had failed to achieve many of the targets of what it envisaged as a landmark measure. At least 13 states have written to the human resource development (HRD) ministry for an extension owing...

-Live Mint Research conducted in 10 European cities; results comparable to the burden associated with passive smoking Exposure to vehicular pollution near busy roads is responsible for 14% of chronic childhood asthma cases, according to a new research conducted in 10 European cities. The results are comparable to the burden associated with passive smoking which, the World Health Organization estimates, causes between 4% and 18% of asthma cases in children. The study was...