-The Hindu New Delhi: Public health experts fear that a new health ministry notification that says pictorial health warnings must cover 85 per cent of tobacco packs from next April may be a "face-saving exercise". The September 24 notification was due six months ago and seems aimed at allaying the anger of Rajasthan High Court, which had asked the government to exPLAin its delay in introducing the 85 per cent warnings, health...

-Hindustan Times One of the closest electoral battles for Bihar, where PM Narendra Modi and CM Nitish Kumar are PLAying out their old rivalry, begins with the first phase of polling in 49 of a total 243 seats on Monday. Strategies by alliances to bite off each other’s caste pie and focus on issues such as beef, detached from ground realities, have arguably made Mandate 2015 the toughest ever with BJP desperate...

-Livemint.com Move to train 10,000 youths aimed at maintaining quality of assets created under rural jobs scheme New Delhi: The ministry of rural development is PLAnning to train at least 10,000 youths in basic civil engineering concepts and engage them in the PLAnning and supervision of works carried out under the ministry’s flagship welfare programme—the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), according to ministry officials who did not want...

Inclusive Media for Change invites applications from media persons in English and Hindi for Inclusive Media - UNDP Fellowships 2015. The Fellowships are given to increase and sharpen media coverage of rural distress/ development and the issues of the marginalized people. The fellowships are aimed at promoting democratic social change, particularly through empowerment, participation, good governance and better understanding about media and the marginalised. The ideal candidates would be willing to...

-The Times of India DEHRADUN: The number of patients with 'severe mental disorders' has multiplied an astounding 100 times in the last three years in Uttarakhand — from 60 in 2012 to almost 7,000 today as per data compiled by the state health department. A large part of the quantum jump, say worried health officials, can be attributed to the devastating floods of 2013 that killed thousands and disPLAced lakhs, with...