-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a rare exception, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) to disclose the annual appraisal report of an ex-employee. The technical intelligence agency is exempt from RTI except in cases of human rights violation and corruption. The applicant, Odisha-based Subhendushree Routroy, had sought his annual performance appraisal reports for 2008, 2009 and 2010. He was sacked from NTRO and he...

-The Hindu The number of cases of burns among women is unusually higher in India with the proportion being undisputedly more in women married for less than 10 years, a latest study has shown. The pattern of burns in India is unusual in two senses. First, deaths from burning are more common among women than men, and second, burns are a well-known means of female suicide or homicide, the study suggests, describing...

-The Hindu     In spite of the rosy picture painted by the World Bank, the prospect of eliminating extreme poverty remains distant In a protracted period of gloom and persistent recession with feeble signs of recovery in a large part of the developed world, the World Bank, Brookings Institution and others can be forgiven for their euphoria over the accomplishment of a key Millennium Development Goal (MDG) - of halving extreme poverty in...

-The Economic Times If India is now debating opening the books and operations of political parties to the public, it's because of these six people who pulled strategic levers and applied relentless pressure. Soma Banerjee traces a four-year effort that converted intent to action Balwant Singh Khera, a politician from Hoshiarpur in Punjab, is not a name that will strike a chord in mainstream politics or social discourse today. It might in...

-The Telegraph The Union health ministry has banned the manufacture and sale of a pain-reliever called dextropropoxyphene (DPPP) amid steadily growing concerns worldwide that this opioid analgesic drug poses several serious health risks, including heart damage. The health ministry, in a drug withdrawal notification, has suspended the manufacture, distribution and sale of all medicines containing DPPP saying the central government has determined that this drug is likely to involve risk to humans...