-Live Mint Research conducted in 10 European cities; results comparable to the burden associated with passive Smoking Exposure to vehicular pollution near busy roads is responsible for 14% of chronic childhood asthma cases, according to a new research conducted in 10 European cities. The results are comparable to the burden associated with passive Smoking which, the World Health Organization estimates, causes between 4% and 18% of asthma cases in children. The study was...

-The Indian Express With the CBI making its first arrests in the Ishrat Jahan case, Ujjwala Nayudu and Rahul Tripathi look at past investigations, all of which have punctured holes in the Gujarat Police’s encounter theory When were Ishrat Jahan and three others killed? Was it in a police encounter on June 15, 2004, as the Gujarat Police’s records show, or a day earlier, on the evening of June 14, as subsequent...

-Outlook Gutka lobby protests stick’s escape Law On Their Side The tobacco industry has enough clout and money to secure the support of top politicians-cum-lawyers in courts:     Arun Jaitley: ITC, market leader in cigarettes     Ram Jethmalani and Abhishek Manu Singhvi: Dharampal Satyapal Ltd     Kapil Sibal: Dhariwal industries *** Just about two months back, newspaper readers were taken aback by a series of front-page ads, one of which stated how 14 states had had banned...

-The Times of India High blood pressure (BP) has become the world's deadliest disease-causing risk factor. But for Indians, indoor air pollution (IAP) — emanating from chulhas burning wood, coal and animal dung as fuel — has been found to be a bigger health hazard for Indians. The first-ever estimates of the contribution of different risk factors to the global burden of disease between 1990 and 2010 has found that household air pollution...

-Frontline Maharashtra’s sugarcane farmers are a worried lot as the State government backs out from the sugar pricing process.  Sangli & Kolhapur: KOLHAPUR and Sangli districts in Maharashtra form the heartland of Indian sugar industry. This time of year is generally the busiest, with itinerant labourers cutting sugarcane and loading it on to tractors that roar off to the more than 20 sugar factories in the two districts. In November and December,...