-Livemint.com The shortfall in pulse production is expected to be around 2 million tonnes this year Under siege over sky-rocketing pulse prices, especially when the crucial Bihar elections are underway, the Centre initially blamed the state governments for the situation at hand for failing to crack down on hoarders. According to news reports, more than 80,000 tonnes of pulses have been recovered in raids across states in the last week or...

-The Hindu Business Line How the Indian State metamorphosed from protector of the poor to facilitator of the private health industry If there is correlation between two incidents of the Central Government announcing cuts in the health budget and dengue patients being refused treatment in Delhi’s private hospitals, it is rarely discussed in the ongoing media debate on the subject. A new collection of researched essays edited by public health scholar Imrana...

-The Indian Express Scapegoating ‘hoarders’ and ‘speculators’ for the spike in dal prices might have been effective in the 1960s. But today, it is only evidence of a rather sloppy conceptual policy framework. The pulse rate of a normal and healthy human body hovers between 60 and 100 beats per minute. There can be problems if it goes any higher — and a serious threat to life over 200 beats per...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: For the first time ever, some of India's biggest pharmaceutical companies, cutting across their respective associations and representing nearly half the Rs 93,000 crore market, have come together to push for ethical marketing practices to clean up the industry's image. The forum, comprising of 40 to 50 domestic and MNC firms, had its first closed-door meeting on October 14. It has made a "voluntary and moral commitment"...

-Hindustan Times Each year, an adult on average catches viral infections two to three times a year. Young children get them more often, falling ill between four and six times a year, with symptoms in both young and old ranging widely from mild sniffles and a sore throat to a hacking cough, high fever and acute diarrhoea, all of which appear to be leading to more and more hospitalisations each year. Over...