Joseph Munyi, a Kenyan citizen, has been living with HIV for 8 years and, much like other HIV patients, is unemployed. He has been receiving his medication free of charge on account of government programmes and outreach programmes of Medicine Sans Frontieres. His medication comes in the form of generic drugs. However, this situation may not last long as economic interests of few may end up impeding many a public spirited...

-The Hindu With emphasis in the 12th Plan on the social services sectors for achieving more inclusive growth, the Delhi Budget has allocated Rs.9,796 crore or 65 per cent of the total Plan outlay of Rs.15,000 for 2012-13 on this sector. The money, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said, will be used for various social welfare schemes. These include the Dilli Annashree Scheme, under which two lakh vulnerable households would be provided food...

The thrust of my argument is not “clear,” alas, even to a person of Neeladri Bhattacharya's perspicacity. It is not “to declare illegitimate the arguments against government action on the recent textbook controversy”: I have explicitly criticised the “government action” in a collective public statement (The Hindu, May 17, 2012). But I oppose the view, frequently articulated in the media, that Parliament's jurisdiction must not extend to questions of curricula and...

-The Economic Times The government is set to reintroduce the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha next Monday with two official amendments. The amendments include dropping the Lokayuktas chapter from the bill, resulting in change of its nomenclature to just 'Lokpal Bill', and simplifying the process for removal of chairperson and members of the Lokpal. The twin amendments to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha last December, were...

-The Telegraph The decade-long flow of funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation into India’s HIV control efforts will stop from June 2013, a foundation official said today, intensifying fears among sections of health activists about the future of the programme. Avahan was the first large-scale health initiative in India to be supported by the foundation, said to be t he world’s largest philanthropic organisation, and will be the first to...