-The Indian Express Setting aside Russian contentions, the government has decided that the next two reactors in Kudankulam will come under the new civil nuclear liability law, and not be covered by the agreement on Kudankulam 1 and 2. The move, which comes a month before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, is expected to provoke a major price escalation in the deal, with the Russian side likely to go back...

-The Indian Express The government’s proposal to price-control certain drugs will create more problems than it will solve From clothes to cars, prices of consumer products the world over are determined taking into account input costs, margins and competition, popularly called the cost-based pricing system. Departing from this sound, fair, tried and tested principle of commerce, the government’s new drug pricing policy, approved by the Group of Ministers headed by Sharad Pawar,...

-The Indian Express The long-standing tiff between the National Human Rights Commission and the National Conference-Congress led government in Jammu and Kashmir on the issue of jurisdiction in cases involving alleged human rights violations is yet to be resolved. The latest flashpoint is the high court stay that the government has managed to get on NHRC proceedings in 34 pending cases of alleged human rights violations, most of them against security forces...

-Outlook Aiming to humanise the treatment of mental illnesses, government has drafted a new Bill which proposes to give patients the right to choose in advance the kind of treatment and recommends use of electric shocks in rare cases. In the new draft law for mental sickness, government also proposes to ban electro convulsive treatment (ECT) (electric shocks) for minors as also its use directly in adults and recommended its use only...

-The Hindu Several unique species of flora-fauna fast approaching the state of extinction At a time when the representatives of 193 countries have gathered here for mulling over the conservation of biodiversity for better future of the humanity and for symbiosis of all living creatures on planet earth, lack of awareness about the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 among the Forest Department officials is resulting in the indiscriminate poaching of the biodiversity wealth...