-Frontine The finalised chapter on health in the 12th Plan document envisages a large role for the private sector in health care. A chapter on health prepared for the draft 12th Five Year Plan Document in July received a lot of criticism for its limited understanding of universal health care and its diluted commitment to increase public expenditure on health. If the revised version is any indication, there has not been...

-Live Mint The International Monetary fund (IMF) has warned India against licensing corporate entities to step into the business of commercial banking, saying the risks associated with such a move potentially outweigh the benefits of creating more banks. IMF’s Financial System Stability Assessment Update said it would be prudent for India to first put in place and gain sufficient experience in implementing a comprehensive FRAmework for the purpose before considering the entry...

-The Indian Express The national water FRAmework law proposed by the Union government could not be more timely. Even as the onerous task of persuading state governments to accept the idea remains unfinished, the proposed FRAmework, as an overarching statement of general principles that lays down the broad contours within which the Centre, the states and the local bodies can exercise their respective powers on exploiting water, is a comprehensive step...

-The Indian Express Allegations of saffronisation of school textbooks in BJP-ruled Karnataka have reached the Centre with demands for a thorough probe into “academically poor and saffronised textbooks with many a distortion and misrepresentation”. The Committee for Resisting Saffronisation of Education has submitted a memorandum to the NCERT as well as to Human Resource Development Minister Pallam Raju alleging that the new textbooks released for class V and VIII by the Karnataka...

-The Economic Times Come February 4 and all eateries in the country-from restaurant chains such as KFC and McDonalds to restaurants within hotels like Bukhara and Swagath to even school canteens and corporate cafeterias-will need a 'food business operator' licence from central food authority Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to operate. The authority plans to randomly check food joints across the country after the February 4 deadline for obtaining the...