Without equality, democracy and social justice, which are three interrelated factors, secularism cannot exist as a positive value in society. I HAVE known Prof. Romila Thapar for about 45 years, most of it as a colleague at the Centre for Historical Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Romila, as she is called by almost everybody – from her eight-year-old grandnephew to all of us present here – had helped to...

-PTI   Highlighting that 42 per cent children were underweight in a country witnessing high growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today described it as a national shame and said the government could not rely solely on ICDS, a programme for early childhood development, to address it.  "...The problem of malnutrition is a matter of national shame. Despite impressive growth in our GDP, the level of under-nutrition in the country is unacceptably high," he...

-The Timee of India   Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (Capart) had given a grant of Rs 1 lakh to Anna Hazare-led Hind Swaraj Trust (HST) for watershed development in three villages in 1999-2001 but more than 90% of the money was spent on honorarium, travelling, printing and stationery, the Supreme Court was told.  Responding to a PIL filed by advocate M L Sharma alleging that large amounts of...

Stavudine disfigures, affects peripheral nervous system permanently THE National AIDS Control Organisation in November procured in bulk anti-HIV drug stavudine, which is being phased out worldwide. NACO officials unofficially cite funds crunch for depending on the low-cost drug. Stavudine requires less monitoring of patients, they say. NACO provides free treatment to HIV/AIDS patients in the country. In 2010, the WHO had revised its HIV/AIDS treatment protocol and recommended countries to phase out...

-The Financial Express   The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIADI) has launched a micro ATM device that would enable beneficiaries like MG-NREGA workers with Aadhaar to withdraw money near their doors through core banking system. "The beneficiary has to put his finger and Aadhaar number in to the micro ATM wireless device and get the money within 8 to 9 seconds from a business correspondent after verification about the beneficiary having that...