-The Times of India It's 8:00 am on a Sunday and outside Denzong Cinema in Gangtok's Lal Bazar, the otherwise languid atmosphere is punctured by grocers of two kinds. On one side of the cinema are those who sell vegetables, fruits and spices sourced from outside Sikkim, mostly from Siliguri, 115 km south in West Bengal. On the other side of the cinema, almost completing a triangle, are farmers from the...
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On malaria, the government’s rhetoric must meet reality -Vivekananda Nemana & Ankita Rao
-The Hindu The Health Ministry’s plan for a malaria-free India by 2030 is laudable, but grand pronouncements are meaningless as long as manipulated data distort our knowledge and bad governance impedes genuine attempts to fight the disease This month, the Health Ministry will unveil an ambitious new plan to eliminate malaria from the country by 2030. A malaria-free India certainly sounds like a dream, or maybe an early campaign promise: the disease...
More »As customs duty exemption goes, 76 life-saving drugs to get costlier -Vidya Krishnan
-The Hindu Haemophilia patients dependent on U.S. drug likely to be worst-hit. In a move that could inflate the cost of essential life-saving imported drugs, the Finance Ministry has withdrawn exemption of 76 medicines from customs duties. The list includes 10 HIV drugs and at least four cancer drugs, but haemophilia patients are likely to be the most affected by the decision. Haemophilia is a genetic disorder in which the patient tends to...
More »Digging holes, filling them up -Reetika Khera
-The Indian Express As it completes 10 years, there is enough evidence to show that India needs the MGNREGA Nearly a year ago, the prime minister made a statement in Parliament about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). He said: “My political understanding tells me, don’t ever stop MNREGA… because MNREGA is a living monument to your [the Congress’s] failures. After 60 years of independence, you had to...
More »Rajasthan sets minimum wages for Domestic Help
-The Times of India JAIPUR: Enforcing labour reforms in the unorganised sector, the Rajasthan government has fixed minimum wages for Domestic Help and set limits to their working hours. According to a recent notification by the state's labour department, the rate for an entire day's (defined as eight hours) chores - including cooking, washing, baby sitting and other work - has been fixed at a minimum of Rs 5,642 per month. The...
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