-The Indian Express Muslims, Dalits and tribals together account for 39 per cent of India’s population, thus their share among undertrials is disproportionate to their population. New Delhi: OVER 55 per cent of undertrials across the country are either Muslims, Dalits or tribals, according to the National Crime Records Bureau’s prison data for 2015. According to the NCRB, over two-thirds of all jail inmates are undertrials. The data also shows that...

-The Hindu The ‘Prison Statistics India 2015’ report was released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Monday. Here are five things the data tells us about the state of Indian prisons. The problem of overcrowding The report calls overcrowding as “one of the biggest problems faced by prison inmates.” It results in poor hygiene and lack of sleep among other problems. “Keeping in view the human rights of the prisoners, it...

-The Hindu The overcrowding of prisons in the country is a long-standing problem that is seldom addressed effectively. Even though the Supreme Court has, from time to time, raised the issue of prison reforms in general, and that of overcrowding in particular, measures to decongest jails have been sporadic and half-hearted. The issue is once again in the news, with the Supreme Court bemoaning that prisons in Delhi and nine States...

-The Indian Express Indian healthcare providers need to get serious about infection control. A deadly strain of bacterium has doubled its resistance to last-resort antibiotics within a year, according to the report “State of the World’s Antibiotics, 2015”. By an estimate, antimicrobial resistance — the ability of bugs to outwit antibiotics — will claim two million lives in India by 2050, a fifth of the total. India is under pressure to curb...

-Huffington Post The heartbreaking story of the parents who jumped to their death in Delhi following the death of their 7-year-old son who succumbed to dengue after being turned away from two major city hospitals has shaken the public health establishment. Union health minister JP Nadda has ordered an enquiry into the incident. Just last month, a man was made to wait for his infant son's dead body because he couldn't pay...