-The Times of India Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday did what none of his predecessors had done for almost a decade - he hiked passenger fares across the board, following up on the increase in freight charges announced immediately after the recent round of assembly elections. While biting the bullet in hiking fares, he chose to couch the increase as ranging from a mere two paise per km for second class...

-Express News Service On Wednesday, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi lost his job for doing what two of his immediate predecessors — one of them his own party boss — could not. After 10 years, fares of passenger trains were finally increased in the rail budget that Trivedi presented, with the aim of pumping in much-needed funds into the financially ill national transport utility. Rolled out in two forms, the “fare rationalisation” models...

It is common for government agencies to come up with reasons for not supplying information sought under the Right to Information Act (RTI). Now, the state civil supplies department has come up with a googly. Responding to a RTI query, it told the applicant, "pay us money so that we can hire people to find out the information you seek."  The applicant, M Thirumani of Padikuppam Road in Anna Nagar, filed...

The government's decision to bust the price as well as monopoly of Bayer's anti-cancer drug, through the process of compulsory licensing now opens up the field for the generic industry to follow suit and could well pave the way for the availability of cheaper drugs for lifestyle diseases.  More generic companies could invoke the compulsory licensing clause of the Indian Patents Act, following Monday's decision to allow Natco Pharma to sell...

-The Hindu As it stands on the threshold of the Twelfth Plan, India has a historic opportunity to elevate education and healthcare as the strongest pillars of its future development. Yearning for life-building education is unprecedented today. Yet, as Amartya Sen pointed out last year, the system remains deeply unjust. Access to excellence is open to those who can afford it, while the less-affluent majority has been left behind without even...