-The Economist A new form of radical centrist politics is needed to tackle inequality without hurting economic growth BY THE end of the 19th century, the first age of globalisation and a spate of new inventions had transformed the world economy. But the “Gilded Age” was also a famously unequal one, with America’s robber barons and Europe’s “Downton Abbey” classes amassing huge wealth: the concept of “conspicuous consumption” dates back to 1899....

-The Economist Growing inequality is one of the biggest social, economic and political challenges of our time. But it is not inevitable, says Zanny Minton Beddoes IN 1889, AT the height of America’s first Gilded Age, George Vanderbilt II, grandson of the original railway magnate, set out to build a country estate in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. He hired the most prominent architect of the time, toured the chateaux...

-The Hindu Only voluntary rural service for medicos The State government has abolished the Compulsory Rural Service (CRS) for medical students, the provision which had led to a series of agitations by medicos in the past few years. In a Government Order dated October 8, the government has done away with the CRS and replaced it with Voluntary Rural Service (VRS). The order has also conceded the demand for allowing onetime maternity benefits for...

-Live Mint Incidents at Bhopal and Indore highlight irregularities and ethical violations in some trials In 2004, doctors at the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC), established exclusively for treating the victims of the 1984 gas leak, recruited unsuspecting survivors for clinical trials without their knowledge or consent; 14 participants died during the course of the trials. Together with the episode in Indore’s Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital (that Mint reported on 10...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: A judicious mix of conventional and alternative sources of energy will take the region on a growth path, experts said at a panel discussion on Alternate Energy as a Solution to Power Crisis in the Northeast at the NICT which concluded here today. Participating in the discussion, A.K. Saikia, secretary of SECONE, an organisation working for the energy sector, said the region had great potential for alternative sources of...