-Live Mint Cabinet-approved Bill may stir up controversy after it left out a key proposal to bring CBI within its purview On the day that it approved the anti-graft Lokpal Bill, the first murmurs of dissent against finance minister P. Chidambaram’s call for expenditure cuts surfaced in the Union cabinet—over the seemingly piffling amount of `90.38 crore.   The cabinet eventually overruled the finance ministry’s objections and approved the infusion of the money for...

-The Hindu India’s polio triumph is a rare milestone in its uninspiring public health record. The story so far only strengthens the case for a vastly augmented routine immunisation programme to combat disease. India has been celebrating its near-victory over polio for the past two years, but it often hogs the headlines for unacceptably high mortality and morbidity due to other communicable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, dengue and filaria. The government now...

-The United Nations While the number of measles deaths around the world has significantly decreased over the past decade, large outbreaks in certain regions are jeopardizing progress, the United Nations health agency said today, adding that improved vaccination rates are critical to eliminate the disease. Between 2000 and 2011, measles deaths dropped from 542,000 to 158,000 globally, representing a 71 per cent decrease. New cases also dropped during the same period by...

-The Telegraph A rights organisation today accused the Centre and state governments of giving huge, unaccounted grants to NGOs including blacklisted ones, often against a bribe. The Asian Centre for Human Rights said it was basing its claims on replies to a series of RTI applications it had filed in 2010. Releasing the report, “India’s Funds to NGOs Squandered”, the rights body’s director, Suhas Chakma, made these claims at a news conference...

-The Hindu The large sums of money spent in the eradication of the disease is an investment in the economic development of the country In the 1980s, only three decades ago, 200,000 to 400,000 children, all under 5 years, were afflicted with polio paralysis annually in India. That was a daily average of 500 to 1000 cases. By the age of six, eight among 1,000 children already had polio paralysis; two would...