-Down to Earth Move comes a year after WHO said the test leads to misdiagnosis The Union health ministry has banned blood tests to detect tuberculosis while terming these tests useless. The ban came into effect on June 7, almost a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an advisory to countries to stop conducting these tests for TB. The international body said in July 2011 that these tests give inaccurate...

-The Hindustan Times A social activist and Congress worker was shot dead allegedly by an inspector when he was trying to draw the policeman’s attention to rampant corruption in the public Distribution system (PDS). Ambika Prasad Dubey, 40, was shot in the chest and stomach at point-blank range after Dubey and some locals stopped a vehicle carrying PDS grain in Jhilpani village, 60 km from district headquarter Narsingpur, late Saturday. Villagers said...

-The Business Standard Odisha, the first state to have formulated the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) in the country seems to have dug its feet over the implementation of the ambitious plan aimed at fine tuning the balance between industrial growth and environment protection. Delay in preparation of reports by concerned departments, delineating action points and strategies for implementation coupled with lack of inter-departmental coordination has held up the plan implementation envisaging...

-IANS The government's plan to replace the public Distribution system (PDS) with direct cash transfer into people's accounts under the proposed Food Security Bill is not getting any takers, some social activists said here Friday. According to the proposal, the PDS through which subsidised foodgrains are made available to people will be replaced with direct cash subsidies where a fixed amount will be transferred into people's bank accounts each month. Talking to media...

-The Hindu ‘Bhagidari atta' to be rich in fibre and nominally priced With a huge wheat harvest across North India and massive pile-up of stocks in godowns not resulting in a drop in the price of flour, the Delhi Government has decided to step in yet again with the sale of its “Bhagidari atta” for providing people with wheat flour at a reasonable price. Delhi Food & Civil Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf, who...