-Scroll.in In 2013, a new law sought to end land grab in India. Telangana showed how easy it was to undermine it, as it took over farmland for a 20,000-acre pharma city. One day in early August 2021, Papi Reddy took a trip to the revenue office of Yacharam mandal, in Telangana’s Ranga Reddy District, He wanted to claim some money that was due to him under Rythu Bandhu, a state-sponsored agricultural...

-Hindustan Times The World Bank should ensure “greater transparency and accountability” while factoring in subjective opinion-based indices as inputs for its World Governance Indicators (WGI) that has significant weightage in sovereign ratings, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) said in a series of tweets citing an internal working paper, and called for independent Indian think tanks to bring out similar perception-based indices for the world in order to...

-Hindustan Times WHO will be updating the list of priority pathogens—agents that can cause outbreaks or pandemics—to guide global investment, research and development, especially in vaccines, tests and treatments, the UN health body announced. India is working on a plan to effectively combat public health emergencies and disease outbreaks in future, according to people familiar with the matter, even as WHO on Monday announced it will be identifying pathogens that could cause...

-The Hindu The National Suicide Prevention Strategy must cascade down to every district The best first step towards addressing a malaise is to recognise that it exists. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s recently published National Suicide Prevention Strategy fits right there. It has been a long time coming, but the Strategy, finally in the public realm, calls attention to the massive burden of suicides in the country, and initiates steps...

-Business Standard Directs Centre to review decision with all stakeholders in the interim and come out with a solution The Delhi High Court has stayed a Central government notification ‘restricting’ the use of controversial plant chemical glyphosate only through pest control operators (PCOs) for three months, trade and industry sources said today. In its order, the court also directed the Centre to review the decision with all stakeholders in the interim and come...