-Kafila.org This fact-finding exercise was coordinated by the CENTRE FOR POLICY ANALYSIS. Team members were the human rights activist and former civil servant Harsh Mander; former Director-General of the Border Security Force, E N Rammohan; Professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy of Jawaharlal Nehru University; National Integration Council member John Dayal; senior journalist Sukumar Muralidharan and CPA Director and senior editor Seema Mustafa. Introduction and Overview The first impression of the Muzaffarnagar countryside, now green...

-The Times of India HOOGHLY/KOLKATA: Sixty-seven children were hospitalized in Arambag, about 80km from Kolkata, after they were mistakenly given hepatitis B vaccine instead of Pulse Polio drops on Sunday. Four health workers have been suspended for the lapse and chief minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered an inquiry. Pulse Polio drops are given orally while the hepatitis B vaccine is administered through an injection. On Sunday, more than 100 children were given...

-Reuters Tobacco inflicts huge damage on the health of India's people and could be clocking up a death toll of 1.5 million a year by 2020 if more users are not persuaded to kick the habit, an international report said on Thursday. Despite having signed up to a global treaty on tobacco control and having numerous anti-tobacco and smoke-free laws, India is failing to implement them effectively, leaving its people vulnerable to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: About 250 million adults consume smokeless tobacco in the 11 countries of the WHO's south-east Asia region, which constitutes 90% of global smokeless tobacco users. India lays claim to 32% men and 18.4% women, who consume smokeless tobacco costing the country $389 million. A study of healthcare costs by Tobacco in India estimated that in 2004, the direct medical costs of treating smokeless tobacco-related diseases in...

-PTI Noting that use of tobacco imposes serious consequences on economy and society, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said its control needs a combination of political and public health action and multi-sectoral policies will drive down its demand and supply. In a televised address at ‘The International Conference on Public Health Priorities in the 21st Century: The Endgame for Tobacco', Dr. Singh said the tobacco use had claimed about 100...