-The Hoot    A significant agitation against land acquisition and the bail and re-arrest of its leader were barely noticed by mainstream media. Isn’t it the media’s disdain for lower caste/class dissenters, wonders ARITRA BHATTACHARYA. I remember my first glimpse of Dayamani Barla: there she was on the screen, fierce, stoic, talking about the ravages the Koel Karo dam and hydel power project would bring to the people of the region. I remember...

-Outlook Former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi has proposed mandatory annual audit of funds and donations received by political parties. "We want all political funding should be transparent and checked. There should be annual compulsory audits by an independent auditor to be picked up from a panel suggested by the Election Commission," Quraishi told PTI. He said the report of such audit should be put in the public domain. "Everybody will be able...

-The Hindu Drugs Controller must be told of adverse events within 24 hours Under sharp criticism for inadequate monitoring of clinical trials in the country, the Union Government is contemplating major changes in the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940, and its Rules. These would make it mandatory for the Investigator to report all serious adverse events, including deaths, to the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI), as well as the sponsor and...

-PTI Amid Reports of discrimination against students admitted under RTE, the government today issued fresh guidelinesprohibiting schools from announcing community, castes or tribes of students and labelling students as reserved category in classes. School shall prescribe procedures and mechanism to deal with complaint and will be obligatory on its part to decide such complaints within a maximum period of 60 days from the date of receipt or submission of complaint, the...

-The Hindu On the face of it, paid news may seem no more than advertising camouflaged as Reports or editorials. Naveen Jindal’s shocking ‘reverse sting’ — aimed at exposing how two editors of the Zee network attempted to cut a shady deal with his company — shows that it can be much worse than this. It is a reminder of how easily the culture of paid news can lead, ineluctably, towards...