-The Indian Express The recent proposal by the National Commission for Women to legalise prostitution has opened up an old debate. It is a misnomer that legalisation would lead to improving the lives of women in prostitution by way of reduced harassment by the police and provision of healthcare facilities. Advocates of legalisation should first examine the experience of countries where prostitution has been legalised. The mere fact that licensing has...

-The Indian Express The tragedy of several women dying after undergoing sterilisation operations in the Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh has once again thrown up uncomfortable questions around India's population programme. Although the cases are being investigated and the exact cause of the deaths has not been ascertained, the incident brings to light the abysmal conditions in which women are compelled to accept government-provided contraception. India is a signatory to an agreement at...

-NDTV The Chhattisgarh government is guilty, at the least, of culpable homicide for the deaths of over a dozen women in government-run sterilisation camps in the last few days. But the government and in particular the Health Minister think they can escape from their own responsibility by arresting the doctor who did the operations and setting up a judicial enquiry. Really? You need a judicial enquiry to tell you that the targets you...

-PTI Limiting access to pesticides and firearms, among the most common methods of suicide globally, can help reduce the number of people taking their own lives, according to a latest WHO report. More than 800,000 people die by suicide every year, according to WHO's first global report on suicide prevention, which found that pesticide poisoning, hanging and firearms are among the most common methods of suicide globally. Evidence from Australia, Canada, Japan, New...

-The United Nations More than 800,000 people commit suicide every year - around one person every 40 seconds - according to the United Nations health agency's first global report on suicide prevention, which was published today. "This report is a call for action to address a large public health problem which has been shrouded in taboo for far too long," said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). The report...