Children are now much higher on the global AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) agenda and there is a major shift in commitment, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s Board, to increase support for Preventing Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT). India has received extended support from the Global Fund for Preventing Parent-To-Child Transmission (PPTCT), according to the Fourth Stocktaking Report, produced by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund,...

The UPA government has come under severe criticism for trying to hurriedly pass the Land Acquisition (amendment) and the Resettlement & Rehabilitation Bill during the ongoing Parliamentary session. Both the bills have been dubbed as anti-poor as their provisions are seen to promote forced dispossession of farmers’ land as well as large scale displacement of rural people. The haste with which the two Bills are being promoted could be assessed...

ALAPPUZHA: The State government is contemplating distribution of rice at Rs.2 a kg to all agriculture workers irrespective of whether they hold Above Poverty Line or Below Poverty Line ration cards, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has said. Inaugurating the State-level distribution of retirement benefits due from the Kerala State Farm Workers Welfare Fund to 1.84 lakh farm workers at a function at Nedumudi, near here, on Sunday, Dr. Isaac said...

EU trade commissioner said it will soon resolve the issue of confiscation of Indian drugs being exported to developing countries. EU Trade commissioner Catherine Ashton said a team of customs officials from the European Commission will be in New Delhi shortly to discuss the issue. “We talked about this issue. Our commitment on pharma, on generics is to find a solution that works for India,” she said after a meeting...

A fact finding team of many civil society organizations has reported widespread occurrences of murders, tortures and cases of police atrocities in Chhattisgarh in the name of combating Naxalism. It is also being alleged that in the name of their own security, journalists are being stopped from going to so called “combat zones” where security forces have launched an Operation Greenhunt to flush out armed Maoists.  Fifteen members of the...