The medicine price regulator, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), has found a price fixing mechanism suggested by its parent ministry, chemicals and fertilisers, has failed to meaningfully lower the prices of key cancer medicines. A group of ministers (GoM) headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is expected to meet soon to finalise a pricing policy on drugs. The NPPA study findings may compel the ministry to seek other effective ways of...

-The Times of India   Two years after the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, a grassroots-level survey conducted across several states by Child Rights and You (CRY) - an umbrella organisation of over 30 non-governmental organisations - indicated that providing free and compulsory education to all under this legislation continued to remain a big challenge. The Act also known as the RTE Act completed two...

-The Times of India The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has come down hard on the state government over water pollution. Denting the green image of Gujarat, CAG, in its 2011-12 'civil' report, claimed that there is an "upward trend" in the incidence of water-borne diseases due to heavily polluted water sources. It cited South Gujarat as the worst case, where industrial clusters like Vapi and Ankleshwar and Nandesari near Vadodara have been...

-The Times of India Nagaland Police allegedly used fictitious bills to withdraw Rs 4 crore for the procurement of 1,750 fire extinguishers, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India said in its annual report tabled in the recently-concluded Nagaland budget session. The report said that the government had sanctioned the funds under major heads-arms and ammunitions-on the basis of the proposal submitted by the office of DGP, Kohima. The office of...

-The Hindu Moving towards major reforms, the Centre is in the process of rolling out a universal health coverage package in at least one district in each State on an experimental basis. This would include a clearly defined basket of services to those who come to any public health facility for treatment or free supply of generic drugs, doing away with user charges and upgrading public health infrastructure right from the primary...