Indian women don't believe in donating blood. According to the first ever data bank on gender distribution of blood donors, India has among the lowest number of female blood donors in the world. Compiled by the World Health Organisation, the data bank says that of the 4.6 million donations in 2008, only 6% donations were by women. The rest 94% were male donors. There were only 13 countries including India among the...

-The Hindu   Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat on Thursday demanded action against those responsible for allowing clinical trials of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat without following the guidelines and ethics. Speaking at a seminar organised by the All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) here on “Cervical Cancer Vaccine — Consequences” the CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member said the poor in the country were...

The impending BPL Census exercise will not help the poor; on the contrary, it will further deny them a fair share in national resources. The BPL, or Below Poverty Line, Census 2011 for the rural areas will start in select States this month. In a country such as India with vast numbers of the poor, counting the poor often becomes an exercise in undercounting and dividing them, to suit the wholly...

Women speak out fears of resisting deep-seated taboos associated with menstruation, viewed even today as polluting in much of India The status of women in India, despite all the brave talk, remains as precarious as ever. This is, after all, a culture which not just condones, but actively encourages the termination of foetuses determined to be female. Other crimes of violence against women are routine. Can things ever change? We took...

To issue biometric cards to 50 million people every year for the next four years. Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) plan to offer a unique identification number (UID) to every resident Indian is slated to get a fillip, with the country’s largest life insurer — Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) — saying it is ready to offer unique identification cards to its policyholders. About a year ago, LIC had signed...