-The Hindu Business Line   Arsenic and fluoride contaminated water has condemned millions to live wasted lives in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Business Line visited several villages in the affected regions for this special report by A. Srinivas. Sixty-nine-year-old Renubala Ari of Deganga village in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district is counting her last days. But it is not her death that worries her. Blind in both eyes and with painful...

-The Hindu Business Line From maker of versions of drugs, India's pharmaceutical industry has turned a top innovator Twenty years ago, Ranbaxy was a home-spun drug-maker. The Indian Patents Act allowed companies to make chemically-similar versions of innovative drugs. Visionaries in the pharmaceutical sector, like Parvinder Singh (Ranbaxy's key architect and member of its promoter family) and Anji Reddy (founder of Dr Reddy's Laboratories), were alive. And the pharmaceutical industry did not have...

-The Hindu To bridge the gap in development between the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and non-SCs and STs, a coalition of more than 150 organisations is demanding a national law to prevent, once and for all, the diversion, non-release, non-implementation and lapsing of the Special Component Plans for SCs/STs. In response to the coalition's longstanding demands, the National Advisory Council's guidance and the letter Sonia Gandhi wrote to the Prime Minister...

-The Hindu Shramik Mukti Sanghatana appeals to Jayanthi Natarajan not to give final nod After rejecting a proposal last year, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has recommended clearance of land for the controversial Kalu dam in Thane district, drawing sharp criticism from activists and tribals affected by the project. A letter on Thursday to Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, conveyed their "utter shock and dismay"...

-The Hindustan Times As the country enters the election year, the UPA government has its task cut out in the form of legislative commitments which are looking increasingly difficult to fulfil. As many as 115 bills (excluding the finance bill) are pending before Parliament. Among these are the land acquisition and food security bills that for obvious reasons are high on the Congress-led coalition's social agenda in a poll year. Ninety-three of...