-The Hindu The Centre has decided to come up with a comprehensive legislation to deal with fake Scheduled Tribe Certificates that is used for securing employment against quota. Union Minister for Tribal Affairs V.Kishore Chandra Deo initiated the move after referring a case of this nature to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for initiating action against the wife of an IAS officer...

-The Economic Times Drug companies paid as little as 50,000 as compensation to families of volunteers who died during clinical trials for new medicines last year, leading to sharp criticism about the paltry sums being handed out and growing clamour among health groups for more stringent guidelines on new drug trials.  According to government data accessed by a healthcare activist through an RTI query, Germany's Fresenius Kabi paid 50,000 each to the...

-The Hindu The debate on the pros and cons of genetically engineered/modified crops is universal. In India, in the face of vociferous protests, the controversy has only deepened leading to a moratorium on cultivation of Bt Brinjal crop — the first GM food crop sought to be commercialised. Gargi Parsai spoke to Basudeb Acharia, Chairman of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, on its new report, “Cultivation of Genetically Modified Food...

-The Indian Express Three new reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India increased the heat on the embattled government on Friday. The statutory auditor’s report on coal block allocations, implementation of public-private partnership at the Delhi International Airport and the award of ultra mega power projects (UMPP), tabled in parliament, accused the government of indulging in favouritism, irregularities in bidding processes, and causing massive losses to the exchequer. The...

-The Hindustan Times Indian taxpayers may have lost as much as Rs. 3.8 lakh crore in scams in the power, aviation and coal sectors over the past eight years, the country's state auditor said in reports tabled before parliament. The Comptroller and Auditor General charged the government with allotting coalfields and land for power projects and Delhi’s airport to private firms at a fraction of the market price, bringing the corruption issue...