-The Telegraph   The Union cabinet today accepted a parliamentary panel’s suggestion that a fine of Rs 1 crore, not Rs 50 lakh, would deter Institutions from charging capitation fees. The suggestion was part of a report the panel submitted on a proposed law to check unfair practices in universities and technical and medical Institutions. The Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, 2010 — introduced in...

Health is a state of mental, social and physical well-being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity. To achieve this noble objective, India requires health care professionals who are trained in Institutions with standardised infrastructure, and the availability of accessible and equitable health care for both the rural and urban populace. Recently, the health sector has been in the news — from the creation of a rural based...

- Women's Feature Service   These are busy days for Aruna Roy, founder member of the National Campaign for the People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) and the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), with the Jan Lok Pal and the need to check corruption emerging as big concerns in India. The woman, who traded a promising career in the bureaucracy for an activist’s existence in 1975, is presently intensely involved in the issue. Pamela...

The executive council (EC) of Jawaharlal Nehru University — the highest decision making body of the institution — has approved the principle of reservation in faculty positions at the higher levels, viz professor and associate professor. “The EC ratified the decision to extend reservation to all levels in its meeting on Monday,” a JNU EC member told HT. This is in conformity with the UGC guidelines issued in 2006 extending quotas to...

-The Telegraph   The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to ensure that drug prices go down, not up, if and when a new price control policy comes into force. “Prices may go down but should not go up because of policy,” Justice S.J. Mukhopadhyay, sitting alongside senior judge G.S. Singhvi, said. “Bring it down, don’t escalate it in the name of policy,” the bench told additional solicitor-general Parag Tripathi, who was speaking...