Regulations covering public health should override personal rights and the country cannot wait any more for a good public health law. The health care industry, including institutions of medical education, hospitals and pharmaceutical businesses, have grown into behemoths that can do considerable harm in the absence of independent and effective regulatory systems. While there are no success stories in the regulation of any kind of industry in India, I will focus...

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India , Jun 28 2012 (IPS) - Nurses in India are up in arms against the deterioration of the nursing profession in the country, including unfair wages and the policies of private hospital managements. Many exploited female nurses are leaving the country in droves, migrating to countries that offer better employment prospects and working conditions. Those that remain are taking to the streets, demanding decent pay and the enforcement of labour...

The dissent note by a member of a government appointed committee reviewing textbooks of political science avers that the pedagogic intent and methods of the NCERT textbooks are sound and they encourage critical dialogue among learners.  M.S.S. Pandian (mathiaspandian57@gmail.com) is member, the NCERT Committee for Reviewing the Textbooks of Social Science/Political Science and teaches history at the Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.   It...

-The Business Standard A cursory analysis of news channels shows that roughly one-third are just political vehicles or peddle influence for builders Last month the ministry of information and broadcasting decided to extend the June 30 deadline to digitise TV homes in the four metros. The new deadline is October 31. There are various reasons for the delay (“Digitisation delay is not a good sign”, June 22). The biggest, however, is cable...

-The Hindu In the filled slots, SCs constitute just 12% against the stipulated 15% and STs 5% instead of 7.5% Among the ills that plague the Indian higher education system is the continued poor stake of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in it. Year on year, the huge backlog of vacancies in teaching positions in SC/ST categories remains a constant concern with little change in its position. Nearly half the teaching positions...