Pointing to a collusive nexus between drug manufacturers, officials of Drugs Control Organisation and medical experts in granting approvals to new drugs, a Parliamentary Panel said drugs banned, discarded or withdrawn in developed countries are in circulation in India.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare also pointed to serious lapses and irregularities on the grant of approvals to new drugs and pointed out that 33 such drugs were approved without conducting clinical trials on Indian patients.

Alarmed at concerns of safety of Indian patients using such new drugs approved by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the top body handling approval of drugs, the Committee held "this matter needs to be reviewed to ensure safety of patients, fair play, transparency and accountability."

Read the full story on Business Standard

The Russian Sukhoi aircraft which was on Sukhoi on a demonstration flight in Jakarta when went off radar screens on Wednesday. 44 people are on board including 8 Russians and 36 foreigners.

Ria Novosti states that a high-altitude crash or possible hijacking have not been ruled out by officials.

The plane did not return to the airport at the scheduled time. Apparently by that time, its fuel would have been totally spent.

Readmore on Digital Journal

Sources have told NDTV that the Union government is already working on different amendments to the Lokpal Bill, which is expected to be introduced in Rajya Sabha next week.

The report also adds that the provision of Lokayuktas have been dropped from the Lokpal Bill, which is seen as a move to appease crucial UPA ally Trinamool Congress.

Russia's newest civilian airliner disappeared from radar screens during a half-hour demonstration flight in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, state-run RIA Novosti news service reported. There were 44 passengers on board.

Read the story on cnn.com

And that's a hat-trick. Former BJP president Bangaru Laxman moves the High Court for bail. Laxman was sentenced on April 28 to four years in jail by a Delhi court for taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh in a fictitious arms deal case 11 years ago.

Earlier in the day, Nupur Talwar moved the court for bail in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case, apart from 2G scam-accused A Raja.

The Tehelka sting story

Shiv Aroor ' @ShivAroor Ashok Gehlot looking pretty silly. It took Aamir for the Rajasthan CM to wisen up and decide to do something about female foeticide?

Gehlot says he will take action against female foeticide in the state.

Gehlot and Aamir are meeting right now. The Rajasthan CM says he has called a meet to take action against female foeticide after Aamir's show on Sunday and says the programme will grow to great heights.

Aamir tells Gehlot he is not an activist but an entertainer, but he knew the show would touch people's hearts.

Ashok Gehlot @ashokgehlot51 SatyamevJayate is a great & extra ordinary initiative to root out Female Feticide.I am eager to have a fruitful dialogue with Aamir on 9 May.

Gehlot has now met Aamir Khan after he was petitioned to take speedy action on female foeticide. The actor had demanded that fast track trials be set up to resolve cases against doctors practicing foeticide.

Here's why Speaker Meira Kumar was given the Rs 2 crore house rent waiver.

Read

Update on the Presidential polls.

The National Democratic Alliance is now in the process of consulting regional parties to choose a Presidential candidate who will be accepted by all, BJP
National Secretary P Muralidhar Rao said here today. "There are limitations. BJP cannot have a say on its own. We have to consult partners and regional parties. Now that process is going on. We will try to evolve a common
candidate..." he said.

He said the NDA was committed to choosing a candidate who has genuine interest in the nation and probity in public life and who can fight against corruption. When asked to name a common candidate, Rao said, "By
naming the candidate in advance you will be killing the chance of that candidate to become the President." 

On talks within the BJP circles about former President A P J Abdul Kalam's candidature for presidentship, he said, "So far BJP has not come out with any name."

A German man stopped at customs with 49 live exotic lizards in his bag claimed they were destined for the cooking pot and even offered to bite one's head off to prove it, officials said today. 

Customs officials halted the 28-year-old at Munich airport on his way back from Oman and were staggered to find in his luggage a menagerie including 31 spiny-tailed lizards and 18 other reptiles, including geckos and wall lizards.  The man had gone through the green channel at customs, saying his cargo to be "foodstuffs" rather than live animals, he explained. 

"The traveller even wanted to bite the head off one of the spiny-tailed lizards in front of the customs official," said a spokesman for German customs.

Fortunately for the lizard, the official declined the invitation, and the reptiles were impounded and therefore spared from the pan.

The Haryana government on Wednesday defended its dress code orders issued recently by the women and child development department that asked its employees to wear "decent" clothes at work.  

The order issued on April 18 by the department's superintendent on behalf of the then director Renu Phulia with regard to wearing of "decent clothes in the office" said, it has been observed that some officials (both males and female) are coming to office in Jeans/T-shirts/Western dresses, "which sometime not only look awkward, but are also in contravention of the government rules."

Even Rabindranath Tagore, who did not stick to conventional spellings, would perhaps not have permitted the bloomers that appeared on the mat that US secretary of state Hillary Clinton presented West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Read the story on the Hindustan Times

Ashok Gehlot @ashokgehlot51 SatyamevJayate is a great & extra ordinary initiative to root out Female Feticide.I am eager to have a fruitful dialogue with Aamir on 9 May.

And this is what happened in Madhya Pradesh. Three days after actor Aamir Khan's TV show Satyamev Jayate on female foeticide was aired, the Madhya Pradesh Health Department has suspended the licences of 65 Medical Termination of Pregnancy centres for not submitting their reports on the prescribed form.

The suspension will be revoked if the centres submit their updated forms by Monday

More

When the Indian chicken farming giant Venky's, a subsidiary of Pune's V.H. Group, purchased the Blackburn Rovers in late 2010, Venky's management promised big things for the English Premier League club. Read

Also read: Letter exposed Venkys farce

Six nights a week after a hard day's work, Michelle Sebastian, 29, single and a luxury hotel executive in Bangalore, returns home to a hot shower and a large bowl of noodles. She changes the vegetables each night, she switches the sauces and she varies the masala, the blend of Indian spices. But her dinnertime staple stays the same: instant noodles.

And that too, is from the NYT blogs on India. Read

It was hard not to be amused by the odd diplomatic spectacle in New Delhi this week, which saw Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in town trying to convince India to stop importing oil from Iran -- even as an Iranian trade delegation was here trying to drum up more business.

Also on the NYT's India blogs. Read 

The political media expos, of the sort that invariably earns the suffix "-gate' in the United States, can come in a surprising variety of shapes and sizes.

The New York Times' India blogs has the story

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said a decision would be taken soon on the drought-related assistance demanded by Maharashtra.

"A central team visited Maharashtra after the state sought aid and submitted its report. The high-powered committee comprising Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, myself and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia have seen the report and we would take a final decision soon", Pawar said. At the same time Pawar was critical of Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan for allegedly not doing enough for the drought-prone areas in the state.

Despite the entire state cabinet and machinery camping in New Delhi on Tuesday seeking Rs 2,900 crore in central assistance, no immediate relief for Maharashtra's drought-hit areas seems to be forthcoming. 

Mention the name Missoni, and most think of a fashion empire that revolutionized textile patterns, spawned the no-bra look on the catwalks, and is now a global brand that designs everything from sweaters to sheets to hotels.

Read

Air travel cost from Delhi would go up from Tuesday next when higher user development fee (UDF) becomes effective for all domestic and international passengers while departing or arriving at the IGI Airport. 

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) had on April 25 decided to raise airport charges, including UDF, by a whopping 346 per cent for two years, with airlines protesting the move and saying they and the passengers would have to face the brunt of the massive hike.

From May 15, a departing international passenger, travelling over 5,000 kms, would have to pay Rs 1,068 as UDFand an arriving passenger Rs 881.10. For passengers who travel between 2,000 and 5,000 kms, a departing traveller would be paying Rs 845.50 and an arriving one Rs 699.17.

More airline news, and none of it good.

If the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has its way,Kingfisher Airlines' properties might be attached soon. Fed up with the non-payment of airport dues by ailing Kingfisher and frequent instances of the airline's cheques bouncing, AAI has served a legal notice to the airline in Mumbai. It plans to file a legal suit within 15 days of the notice.

Read the report here

Even as the Delhi HC slammed the Air India pilots's strike, the government today expressed readiness to talk to agitating Air India pilots, but warned that if they resorted to such actions repeatedly, no public money would be infused in the ailing carrier for its revival. 

"If you have grievances, we can talk, (but) discussions and disruptions cannot take place simultaneously. They should withdraw strike and apologise to passengers," Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said.

Around 200 Air India pilots owing allegiance to Indian Pilots' Guild had reported sick yesterday resulting in cancellation of about 20 international flights. The pilots have been protesting against rescheduling of Boeing 787
Dreamliner training. Singh said agitating pilots reported sick, even when it
was well known that they were not.

The Delhi High Court declares the Air India pilots' strike illegal and says there should no strikes and no sick leaves till the next hearing.  The Air India management today moved the Delhi High Court seeking an order restraining the pilots from going on strike. 

A section of Air India pilots owing allegiance to Indian Pilots Guild went on strike yesterday following failure of talks with the Air India management. The IPG pilots have been agitating over the rescheduling of Boeing 787 Dreamliner training and matters relating to their career progression.

Detailing his pay package, RIL said that Ambani's "compensation has been set at Rs 15 crore as against Rs 38.82 crore that he is eligible as per the shareholders' approval, reflecting his desire to continue to set a personal example for moderation in managerial compensation levels". In the fiscal 2010-11 also, Ambani was eligible for a pay package of Rs 38.75 crore, but he took home only Rs 15 crore. 

The company's total remuneration for top management personnel and commission paid to non-executive directors had declined during 2010-11, but rose again in 2011-12. The decision to cap Ambani's salary at Rs 15 crore was taken way back in October 2009, amid a raging debate onright-sizing of  CEO salaries.

Peeved about a poor raise? Take a leaf out of Mukesh Ambani's book.

Ambani has decided to forgo nearly Rs 24 crore from his annual pay last fiscal as chief of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), keeping his salary capped at Rs 15 crore for the fourth year in a row. 

However, RIL's total outgo towards remuneration to its all top management personnel, as also the sitting fees and commissions for its non-executive directors, increased during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012. Ambani's salary has remained unchanged at Rs 15 crore since the fiscal 2008-09.
In its latest annual report for the year 2011-12, RIL said that Ambani's total pay package stood at Rs 15 crore, as against his eligibility of Rs 38.82 crore as per the shareholders' approval.

And then, at Rs 15 crore per annum, we wouldn't be bothered about a raise either.

The Air India strike was raised in the Lok Sabha today with Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) demanding that the government take concrete steps to revive the national carrier and stop patronising private players. 

"Step by step, Air India is being destroyed. I urge the government to call the pilots and deal with their demands... Air India is sought to be destroyed. Salaries have not been paid for months," Dasgupta said in the House during Zero Hour. 

He clarified that he did not want to go into the merits of the demands being made by the striking pilots but wanted the government to take effective steps to save Air India. Dasgupta charged that the government first merged Air India and Indian Airlines and is now going to split the two. "This is a wonderful change of policy by the government," Dasgupta said sarcastically.

An international search has been launched today to track down a vulnerable British woman who vanished in Pakistan. Leah Reed, 28,  from Cambridgeshire, told her family she was going on holiday on April 24.

Read more

The Maoists have raised a mini-army in the heart of the country. Armed to the teeth with AK-47s, INSAS rifles and landmines, they are ready to strike terror. And, they seem to be winning the 'war'.

Read more on the Daily Mail

Reason to celebrate: Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been given a passport for the first time in 24 years. Suu Kyi has spent much of the past two decades under house arrest in Burma as a political prisoner.

More on the bbc.

Irom Sharmila who has spent nearly 12 years fasting to protest against a law that gives special powers to the armed forces has been featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not. Irom Sharmila Chanu, 40, has been on a hunger strike since 2 November 2000 in the north-eastern state of Manipur.

Read more on the bbc.

Also read: Sumit Bhattacharya's piece -- The tragedy of being Irom Sharmila -- on rediff.com

Update on the Air India pilots' strike:

Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh says that Air India is almost bankrupt and has not paid employees for months, nor airport authorities or oil companies. The minister says that the government is ready to talk to pilots, but discussions and disruptions cannot take place simultaneously.

Also read: Time to stop treating AI employees like Maharajas?

And yet more comment on Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate.

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan managed to do what the Indian census, countless academic papers and seminars and commentators like me have failed to do: put the issue of son preference, sex selection and female feticide on the nation's radar screen.

Read the Wall Street Journal report

Bijayant 'Jay' Panda symbolises the young Indian politician who appears just as comfortable in Parliament as he is in Kendrapara, the rural Orissa parliamentary constituency from which he has been elected to the Lok Sabha.

Two terms in the Rajya Sabha (including one where he was his Biju Janata Dal party's leader in the Upper House of Parliament) were the training ground for this MIT graduate.

An evangelist for Odisha, he is seen regularly in television studios, defending the BJD government's anti-Maoist record at a time when its Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is seen as soft on the outlawed extremists.

Panda tells Rediff.com's Savera R Someshwar why he believes Odisha has made significant progress in tackling the Maoist menace.

Read the full interview here.

Here's what happened in the Lok Sabha today.

Voicing concern over problems faced by minority Hindus in Pakistan, India today reminded Islamabad of its responsibility to discharge its Constitutional obligations towards its citizens. 

"It is the responsibility of the Government of Pakistan to discharge its constitutional obligations towards its citizens, including those from the minority community," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said in the Lok Sabha. He was responding to the issue of treatment of minorities in Pakistan raised by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi last week.

Shiv Aroor @ShivAroor Merge Kingfisher and Air India. Call the new entity India Kings. Then smoke it.

The latest on the Air India story is that the management today moved the Delhi High Court seeking an order restraining the pilots from going on strike. Filing an injunction suit before Justice Reva Khetrapal, counsel Lalit Bhasin sought an order to restrain Air India pilots from going on strike. 

Justice Khetrapal will hear the matter at 2.15 pm today. A section of Air India pilots owing allegiance to Indian Pilots Guild went on strike yesterday following failure of talks with the Air India management. The IPG pilots have been agitating over the rescheduling of Boeing 787 Dreamliner training and matters relating to their career progression.

In Parliament today, Home Minister P Chidambaram said there was no proposal to set up special courts for trial of rape cases, but states are being
impressed upon to probe such crimes more efficiently by deputing best officers.

Admitting that there were delays in medical and forensic examination in some cases, Chidamabaram expressed hope that police probed cases of crime against women seriously.

In other news, the Supreme Court today directed the Kerala government to consider within one week the plea for transferring to a guest house the two Italian marines, arrested in connection with the killing of Indian fishermen,on board the Enrica Lexie. 

Senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for the Italian government, submitted that the marines were decorated officers and it would be proper for them to be shifted to a guest house. 

He told the court that the Italian government had made a request to the Kerala government as early as March 8, but the state government had not taken any decision on the issue till date.

The two Italian marines have been charged with killing two Kerala fishermen Valentine and Ajesh Binki on February 15, this year, suspecting them to be pirates. They are lodged in Thiruvananthapuram Central Jail.

The DGCA has ordered an inquiry into the crash. The chopper apparently fell from a height of 30 feet and turned turtle, but luckily did not catch fire.

Narrow escape for Munda when you consider this story: Indian politicians who have died in plane crashes.

Arjun Munda has been rushed to hospital after sustaining injuries. Still not know how many other people were accompanying him, but all aboard are believed to be safe and the CM's injuries are said to be minor. The pilot apparently informed the airport that there was an emergency on board, which was why fire brigade and ambulances were on standby. 

A top police official of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday openly advocated honour killing. The incident took place in Prabudh Nagar district where the deputy inspector general (DIG) of Saharanpur range, Satish Kumar Mathur, had gone for a routine inspection of police stations and review law and order situation.

One Shaukeen Mohammad, a resident of Kaserwa village of Prabudh Nagar district, approached the DIG with the request to help him find his missing daughter. But Shaukeen was shocked when the DIG told him to kill his daughter if she has eloped with somebody. Read more

With less than two weeks left for his trial on insider trading charges, former Goldman Sachs Director Rajat Gupta's lawyers are pushing to get secretly
recorded phone conversations between him and convicted hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam excluded as evidence, calling them "extremely prejudicial".
Gupta's lawyer Gary Naftalis submitted documents in the US District Court, Southern District of New York on Monday arguing that a July 2008 conversation between the two does not contain "direct evidence" that Gupta provided confidential information to Rajaratnam.

More on the Rajaratnam case

Even as the Air India stalemate continues, Indian Pilots Guild President Jitendra Awhad has said that the pilots were ready to go back to work if 99 per cent of their demands were met. He also claimed that the government had closed its doors to talks on the issue.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, however, denied Awhad's allegations. Ajit Singh said that the government was open to talks. The crisis at Air India continued on Wednesday with no end to the stalemate between the management and the pilots.

Read more here

Heartening news on the feared C. One in six cancers - two million a year globally - are caused by largely treatable or preventable infections, new estimates suggest.

The Lancet Infectious Diseases review, which looked at incidence rates for 27 cancers in 184 countries, found four main infections are responsible. These four - human papillomaviruses, Helicobacter pylori and hepatitis B and C viruses - account for 1.9m cases of cervical, gut and liver cancers. Most cases are in the developing world.

More on the bbc.

An Indian diplomat's daughter, who was jailed for a day on suspicion of sending obscene emails to her teacher, has filed a lawsuit against the city of New York and her school authorities seeking $1.5 million (Rs 7.9 crore) in damages for her wrongful imprisonment and suspension from school. 

Read the report on the Daily Mail.

A recent poll says that one of the things most people lie about is their resume. And here's what happens if you are caught out.

Yahoo director Patti Hart will step down from the board of the embattled Internet firm amid revelations over her role in hiring controversial CEO Scott Thompson.  

Hart, who led the committee that hired Thompson four months ago, will surrender her Yahoo seat at the company's still unscheduled annual meeting.  

She framed her decision as a commitment to focus on her job as CEO of the gambling-machine maker International Game Technology, while allowing the Yahoo board to deal with the recent revelations about Thompson''s inaccurate academic credentials.

More on Sonia Gandhi's address to her party...

At the Congress Parliamentary Party session in New Delhi, which was also attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Gandhi commenting on the elections results in the five states including Uttar Pradesh, said, "While we can take satisfaction in the fact that we returned to power in Manipur for the third time and formed the government in Uttarakhand, the results in Punjab and Goa are very disappointing. 

"In Uttar Pradesh, even though we did not perform as well as we had hoped to, we increased our vote share quite considerably and were seen as a serious player for the first time in 22 years. Of course there is much work to be done there as in other states. I am proud of Rahul."

The CPP meeting has come a few days after a high-power committee of the party led A K Antony that reviewed the party's performance in the five states, submitted its report to Gandhi.  She said with a series of state elections approaching in the coming months, the partymen "must draw upon lessons of the previous polls."

Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh said that he would consider downsizing the airlines if the agitation continues. On the pilots' demands, Singh said, "There are other demands instead of 10 years, they should get promotions in six years. In fact they get promotions much earlier than six years. Ten years is if they don't get promotions....That problem is not there really. So they could have waited until all these things get discussed. Even now if they want they discuss with Air India management, they should have come to me. I am open to discussions.

Asked when Air India can come back on track, he said, "Lets hope..but to get back from there it will take long time and lot of patience by the employees."

A meeting between the agitating pilots and the management before the Central labour commissioner is slated to be held later today. They had an inconclusive round of talks yesterday.

Four international flights of Air India were cancelled from here and Delhi as the
agitation by a section of pilots entered the second day today, even as the management was mulling the option to move court against the agitation.

"Four flights have been cancelled today, two each from Delhi and Mumbai," Air India spokesperson said here. All other international flights are operating, as a contingency plan has been put in place with the available pilots, he said.

Around 200 Air India pilots owing allegiance to Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) had reported sick yesterday resulting in cancellation of at least 13 international flights. The pilots have been protesting against rescheduling of Boeing 787
Dreamliner training.

The Saudi bombmaker believed to be behind several failed but ingenious attempted attacks on the West is the most likely creator of an improved "underwear bomb" discovered in a plot foiled by US and allied authorities, security experts and officials say. 

More on reuters

The suicide bomber dispatched by terrorist leaders of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula to blow up a United States plane was in fact a double agent who worked for the Saudi intelligence agency.

If you haven't gone on Google yet, do. The Google homepage graphic pays tribute to archaeologist who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. As always, classy.

Read

If the court gives Nupur Talwar bail she can leave Dasna jail this evening. The order is expected at 12 pm.

AR Rahman has been honored by Miami University, Ohio with the honorary degree for Doctor of Music at their 173rd Annual Commencement Ceremony on May 5. 

Rahman, in his commencement address to the 2012 graduates of the Miami University, said one should never give up in life and always keep smiling as you embark on new journeys. Apart from thanking his family, Rahman also thanked prolific director Mani Ratnam, as well as his Sufi teachers.

Meanwhile, tribal leaders across party lines are expected to meet today to decide on a tribal candidate for the presidential polls. NCP leader and former speaker PA Sangma.

The other big story happening today is that the trial in the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case is likely to begin at a court in Ghaziabad.

Judge Preeti Singh, who heads the special CBI Court, may also initiate the process of transferring the case to a sessions court for the trial.

Meanwhile, Nupur Talwar, who was sent to judicial custody 10 days ago, would be hoping for relief from the Supreme Court which will hear her bail plea and review petitions today.

The apex court on May 4 had postponed the hearing of Nupur's bail petition in the case. The court had also deffered hearing the review plea filed by Nupur and Rajesh Talwar to quash trial proceedings against them.

Just a day after a male masseur accused Hollywood actor John Travolta of soliciting him for sex, which led him to file a $2 million dollar suit against the latter, a second male masseur stepped forward to accuse Travolta of trying to have sex with him during a massage session.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the second masseur, who does not want to be identified, has also filed a two million dollar sexual battery lawsuit against the actor for propositioning him during a massage session.