-Live Mint The prime source of financing will be from general taxation or public exchequer, says Planning Commission Government-run hospitals may stop charging for primary services such as investigative tests as India attempts to provide universal health coverage to all its citizens. “No fee of any kind would be levied on primary healthcare services with the prime source of financing being from general taxation/public exchequer,” the Planning Commission says in its latest health...

-The Hindu The new Bill should pitch for free care to mental health patients in public hospitals. Persons with mental illness have long been subjected to cruelty, neglect, ridicule and stigma. In the last half-century, medical science has made significant strides in finding some cures and palliatives for afflictions of the mind – of emotion, mood, thinking and behaviour. Parallel to this is the evolution in our ethical frameworks: of human rights,...

-The Indian Express It’s a sting operation and the TV channel seems to be at the receiving end. Along with its FIR against Zee TV, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) has provided the police with audio and video recordings of telephone conversations and three meetings held on September 13, 17 and 19 between Zee and JSPL officials at Delhi’s Hyatt Regency. The recordings have been sent for forensic analysis by police,...

-The Hindu Government seeks to address cyber attacks without compromising free speech and privacy National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon on Monday opened up the national security regime to the private sector, with the launch of a cyber security report titled ‘Recommendations of Joint Working Group on Engagement With Private Sector On Cyber Security’. The Hindu was the first to report that such an initiative would be launched this week. “The enormous potential for...

-Outlook Patna: Airing scepticism over the inter-linking of rivers serving the desired purpose, social activist Medha Patkar today charged Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with embarking on the project in the state without consulting people. "I am apprehensive about inter-linking of rivers serving the desired purpose and if it is so then chronic flood caused by Koshi river should have stopped after construction of dams," she said at the ninth biennial national...