Canada-based software consultant Nitin Mandlaus survived the Delhi high court blast of September 7, 2011 despite 822 pieces of shrapnel piercing his body. After four long operations, the 37-year-old still walks about with 600-odd Metal pieces inside his body. Apart from the pain these are causing him, the tiny objects are also preventing his return home to his wife and son in Toronto. It's a shocking tale. Mandlaus can't catch a...

Says milk adulterated but not unsafe for consumption Six states and a union territory feed their people milk that does not meet the standards set by India’s food regulatory body at all. Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Daman & Diu are the “100 per cent non-conforming” states. In Delhi, 70 per cent of the samples failed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) test. Yet, the...

-The Indian Express Inside a nondescript building in the eastern part of Bangalore stands a server farm, a cluster of computers. It is a building without a sign and visitors are strictly forbidden. In this building sits the data centre of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Location of the centre: “somewhere in Whitefield suburbs”, is all UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani would tell this newspaper. The centre forms the back support of...

Millions of Indians are suspected to be carriers of the drug-resistant bug After the scary New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase-1 or the “superbug” was detected two years ago, the world is now faced with the community-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (ca-MRSA) bacterium that is resistant to almost all common antibiotics. In India, where poor hygiene and the availability of over-the-counter antibiotics lead to development of resistance, an estimated 100 to 200 million people are reportedly...

An internal enquiry by the ministry of external affairs into the dubious manner in which sub-standard gifts for foreign dignitaries were acquired by its protocol division is being conducted at a leisurely pace by the ministry’s vigilance department.  The enquiry, which has been going on for the past two months, is yet to pin responsibility on the officials behind the scam that took place in contravention of proper procedures and in...