The joint drafting committee on the Lokpal bill made some headway on Saturday on contentious procedures for sanction for prosecution of public servants. A broad consensus emerged over the need to review existing laws that have been criticized for shielding corrupt officials. Civil society sources on the panel said the proposed Lokpal may not require permission for prosecution while investigating offenses with Amendments being considered to section 19 of the prevention...

Haryana records the lowest adult sex ratio in the country, and its Jhajjar district has the worst adult and child sex ratios. THE results of the provisional Census revealed that Haryana as a whole registered the lowest adult sex ratio in the country and also had the lowest child sex ratio (CSR). Among the State's districts, Jhajjar recorded the lowest adult as well as child sex ratio, and within the district,...

An insecticide widely used in agriculture for pest control has become the latest hazardous chemical to be added to the United Nations’ list of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) targeted for elimination from the global market by next year, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today. Representatives from 127 governments meeting in Geneva from 25 to 29 April agreed to add endosulfan, an organochlorine insecticide, to the POPs list because it is...

Alarmed at the declining figures of female population in Maharashtra, as revealed by the provisional census of 2011, the state health department has launched a crackdown on clinics, which illegally perform sex determination tests. According to department officials, they will deploy 'Decoy Sting Operation Teams' at the district level. This team, which consists of khabris (informants), will track down clinics performing sex determination tests. Local health NGOs will also be...

United States has placed India, Pakistan, China and nine other countries on the top 'priority watch list' with regard to violations of intellectual property rights (IPR). America's trading partners on the Priority Watch List present the most significant concerns regarding insufficient IPR protection or enforcement, or otherwise limited market access for persons relying on intellectual property protection. Twelve countries-India, Pakistan, China, Russia, Algeria, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Israel, Thailand and Venezuela are...