-The Times of India   RAIPUR: In a move that will benefit an estimated seven lakh destitute of single-member ration cardholders in the state. Chhattisgarh government has decided to give 10kg free rice per month under public distribution system. Earlier, destitute were required to pay Rs 1 per kg. The order has already been implemented and officials concerned have started the verification process, said sources. According to circular issued by food, civil...

-Down to Earth   Poverty line figures hide people's aspirations There are lies, damn lies and statistics, American author Mark Twain once wrote echoing a similar statement by the British statesman Benjamin Disraeli. Statistics aim to reveal a lot, but they conceal vital information. This concealing tendency of statistics explains much of the flak received by the Planning Commission when it released figures on the poverty line. In 2012, the commission announced that...

-The Hindu   So far, the electoral promises of allocation of six per cent of GDP to education have remained as pious wishes Election manifestoes over decades have rhetorically spoken of six per cent of GDP or more to education and this election has been no exception; the actual spending on education is only around three per cent. Not surprisingly, school infrastructure and teaching personnel are inadequate and of poor quality while the dropout...

-The Hindu   No one can attack India's well-founded Intellectual Property regime as being weak merely because a drug that is claimed to be an invention fails the test of law India and its intellectual property (IP) laws have been the subject of sharp criticism recently. Now, there is talk of the government invoking emergency provisions with regard to Dasatinib, a cancer drug. The decibel level may go up several notches. Let us look...

-The Hindustan Times New Delhi: Life-saving drugs that need to be stored at low temperatures left out in the open, touts having a free run of transport offices and schools violating guidelines - all this and more was unearthed during raids by the Delhi government officers on Thursday. On the directions of the Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, 19 teams of senior officers fanned out in the city, exposing thriving malpractices in...