-The Hoot Buried in a parliamentary committee report is a refutation by villagers of TOI’s controversial stories on BT cotton’s virtues, published in 2008 and reprinted in the paper as paid news in 2011. PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA revisits the saga  Allegations leveled by Palagummi Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu newspaper that its competing daily, the Times of India, published an article at the behest of Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech without disclosing this...

-IANS Tribals in Chhattisgarh are furious over police moves to ban their traditional weapons in public places, particularly in village haats, or markets. Bastar range inspector general of Police T J Langkumer said the ban was being implemented only in Narayanpur district in a bid to prevent Maoists from attacking security personnel, and they would try to extend it to the Bastar region. Tribal leader B.P.S. Netam warned that the government was playing...

-PTI Bihar State Human Rights Commission today took suo motu cognizance of reports in different newspapers about cases of removal of uteruses purportedly under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY). "They (the cases) do not appear to be sporadic incidents; rather they seem to have been done in a systematic manner as if they were the result of conspiracy and part of some racket. The reports refer to the districts of Saran, Sitamarhi,...

-The Economic Times Drug companies paid as little as 50,000 as compensation to families of volunteers who died during clinical trials for new medicines last year, leading to sharp criticism about the paltry sums being handed out and growing clamour among health groups for more stringent guidelines on new drug trials.  According to government data accessed by a healthcare activist through an RTI query, Germany's Fresenius Kabi paid 50,000 each to the...

-The Hindu The Constitution of India operates in happy harmony with the instrumentalities of the executive and the legislature. But to be truly great, the judiciary exercising democratic power must enjoy independence of a high order. But independence could become dangerous and undemocratic unless there is a constitutional discipline with rules of good conduct and accountability: without these, the robes may prove arrogant. It is in this context that Chief Justice S.H....