-PTI Five persons were arrested on Thursday in connection with the devastating fire at a cracker manufacturing unit at Mudhalipatti near Sivakasi, even as the toll mounted to 39. The arrested were four persons who had taken the Omshakthi fireworks factory complex, where the fire broke out, on lease and its foreman, police said. The condition of over 40 of the 70 people injured was stated to be serious in various Hospitals. The licence...

-Frontline A study finds that institutional support alone cannot help reduce maternal mortality in India.  THE high rate of maternal mortality in India has been a cause for national concern, especially on account of the focus on reaching the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Although there is a growing realisation that it will be difficult to meet the MDG targets by that deadline, there is a renewed interest in the...

-The Hindu The government has appealed to the junior doctors not to link the compulsory government service with guidelines issued by the Medical Council of India as both are different issues. K. Ratna Kishore, Principal Secretary, Health, Medical and Family Welfare, said here on Tuesday that the compulsory government service for one year to all the non-service candidates after completion of PG course was part of the State government policy to improve...

-The Hindu An important bill that seeks to protect women, including domestic workers, from sexual harassment at workplace was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday, even as the House witnessed din and disruption over coal blocks allocation for the ninth day. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2010, was passed without discussion, as BJP members stood in the well, shouting slogans demanding the resignation of...

-The Hindustan Times A new proposed bill aims to provide relief to mentally ill patients across the country. Prepared by the law and health ministries, it will ensure that patients are not dumped in Hospitals and mental asylums for more than six months or given electric shocks without their prior consent. The Mental Health Care Bill, which seeks to update India’s 25-year-old law in accordance with the United Nations’ conventions, calls...