-The Hindu There is reason to be optimistic about the U.N. report on disability Rights, but there is also disappointment at its failure to make the poverty connection The disability movement has waited anxiously for the report of the high level panel on post-2015, formed by the Secretary General of the United Nations, which was released in May. This document is expected to set the tone for the Secretary General's report on...

-The Times of India DEHRADUN: As if heart-wrenching images of children separated from their parents in the Uttarakhand disaster were not enough, state chief secretary Subhash Kumar on Wednesday is learnt to have told a four-member team of National Commission for Child Protection Rights that 1,227 children were reported missing in the state since the flashfloods. A top Uttarakhand IAS official told TOI that Kumar informed members of the visiting team that...

-The Hindu That predators continue to enjoy impunity for crimes committed against women is now common knowledge. But less known is the fact that the worst perpetrators are often those most intimately known to women, or that the latter are vulnerable in consequence to life-long health-related risks. These frightening revelations are contained in a recent World Health Organisation report, issued in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical...

-PTI India however maintained that the India Patent Act was in accordance with the TRIPS Agreement & the Paris Convention The US pharma industry has expressed concern over deteriorating intellectual property environment in India, alleging that patent Rights in the country are unreasonably denied. "PhRMA remains concerned about the deteriorating intellectual property environment in India," Mark Grayson, PhRMA spokesman told PTI. The remarks by PhRMA or Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, representing America's...

-Frontline     Attempts by the Congress-led UPA government to adopt the ordinance route to pass the Food Security Bill fail as the opposition parties are more or less united in seeking a Bill that provides universal PDS coverage. THE National Food Security Bill (NFSB), 2013, touted as the biggest game changer for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the 2014 parliamentary elections, will go through yet another round of discussions...