Food inflation fell to 8.53 per cent for the week ended April 23 on the back of fall in prices of pulses, reversing the upward trend seen in the previous fortnight. Food inflation in the previous week was 8.76 per cent. The latest numbers are likely to come as a relief to the government and the RBI, especially at a time when the central bank's monetary policy for the fiscal, released...

The head of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) warned today that the “slow-motion catastrophe” of non-communicable diseases could overwhelm even the wealthiest nations if the root causes of the epidemic, mostly lifestyle decisions, are not addressed. Margaret Chan, the WHO Director-General, told delegates at the First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Noncommunicable Disease Control in Moscow that the fact the many of the chronic non-communicable illnesses in...

A bill drafted by the National Advisory Council to check communal violence seeks to impose greater accountability on public officials in tackling violence or discrimination against vulnerable groups. The council, headed by Sonia Gandhi, today took up the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, prepared by one of its working groups. The council has decided to put the draft bill in the public domain to invite...

Final draft bill on website within a week for public comments NAC hopes Bill will create a “robust accountability system” Government will be obliged to lay down national standards for all provisions for victims After several extensions, and a controversy over the exit of members of its drafting and advisory committees, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC)'s draft Communal & Sectarian Violence Bill is finally ready: it will be presented on Thursday...

The National Alliance of People's Movement, representing several civil society groups, on Monday sought a “complete ban” on the use and manufacture of the controversial toxic agri-chemical Endosulfan. “The deadly pesticide is banned by 81 countries and by the Kerala and Karnataka governments, yet it doesn't seem to be reason enough for the Centre to ban it all over the country. Since 1976, continued aerial spray of Endosulfan has led close...