-The Hindu More needs to be done to enforce the law banning manual scavenging. This monsoon, India's Parliament passed a law of enormous social significance prohibiting and punishing manual scavenging, which remains the most degrading form of untouchability and caste discrimination in the country. This is not the first time this practice was outlawed: untouchability and forced labour were forbidden in the Constitution itself and, in 1993, a law was first passed...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Assembly elections in Delhi will be held on December 4. The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced assembly polls in five states between November 11 and December 4, setting the ball rolling for what is set to be the semifinal between Congress and BJP before their big face-off in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are expected to witness virtually a straight...

-Live Mint Apex court expresses concerns about drug trials being permitted on humans without comprehensive rules to regulate the approval process New Delhi: The apex court on Monday directed the health ministry to justify its approval for 162 global clinical trials in India, increasing the uncertainty faced by the nation's $500 million clinical research industry. The Supreme Court expressed its concerns about drug trials being permitted on humans without comprehensive rules to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: UPA is going to town for having delivered on its promise of food security. But, come December and this promise would fall flat as many government schools are likely to go without midday meal (MDM). The reason: the food ministry's new missive to the HRD ministry that like other food schemes, MDM would also have to make pre-payment before lifting foodgrains from Food Corporation of India...

-The Hindu Questions over advisability & validity of ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers cited as reasons Five days after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi publicly censured the government, the Union Cabinet, at a brisk 20-minute meeting on Wednesday evening, decided to withdraw the controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers, as well as the Bill that sought to amend the Representation of the People Act on which it was based. Union Minister of Information and...