-The Hindustan Times Two popular restaurant chains, KFC and Sagar Ratna, are serving rice dishes that have been found to be "unsafe" due to the presence of harmful artificial colouring, the Delhi government's food safety department has said in a report submitted to the high court. The "unsafe" dishes mentioned are fast-food giant KFC's Rizo Rice served at its restaurant at Scindia House in Connaught Place, and some rice recipes from South...

-Down to Earth Health experts blame Centre's over-emphasis on women's sterilisation for the Chhattisgarh tragedy THERE WAS nothing right about the sterilisation camp held on November 8 in Chhattisgarh's Takhatpur block of Bilaspur district. An overambitious government doctor-with unsterilised equipment and virtually no manpower-set out to conduct laparoscopic tubectomy on 83 women in an abandoned private hospital. The mass sterilisation led to the death of 13 women and left others critically ill. They were...

-The Times of India COIMBATORE: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka account for 3.6 lakh HIV cases, about 50% of the patients in the country. The southern states are also among the top four in the country, with Tamil Nadu alone having 80,685 HIV affected people of the total 7.7 lakh as on May 2014. Andhra Pradesh (including Telengana) tops the list with 1.7 lakh HIV affected people, followed by Maharashtra...

Far from being dead and gone, slavery exists in many forms and is flourishing. A disturbing report on modern slavery compiles facts and figures and documents data about new forms of slavery all over the world. Even more disturbing is the fact that India figures in very high on slavery index. It says that almost 61% of those living in modern slavery are in 5 countries: India, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan...

-Economic and Political Weekly   The runaway growth in states of subsidised solar pumps, which provide quality energy at near-zero marginal cost, can pose a bigger threat of groundwater over-exploitation than free power has done so far. The best way to meet this threat is by paying farmers to "grow" solar power as a remunerative cash crop. Doing so can reduce pressure on aquifers, cut the subsidy burden on electricity companies, reduce...