Bengal has the largest proportion of teenage mothers in the country, according to a data sheet prepared by the family planning division of the Union health ministry. The grim statistics emerged on a day the Lok Sabha discussed ways to control population and some MPs found merit in Sanjay Gandhi’s iron-fist policy. But Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad hastened to say “once bitten, twice shy” to make clear forcible measures...

When Nirupama Pathak left this remote mining region for graduate school in New Delhi, she seemed to be leaving the old India for the new. Her parents paid her tuition and did not resist when she wanted to choose her own career. But choosing a husband was another matter. Her family was Brahmin, the highest Hindu caste, and when Ms. Pathak, 22, announced she was secretly engaged to a young man...

Though Mother's Day is celebrated across the world to honour mothers and motherhood, a number of women (mothers) in rural areas and urban slums are bound to face hardships and neglect. Even after decades of independence, rural women continue to be in a state of neglect in Naugarh block of Chandauli district. Gender bias, lack of education, excessive responsibility, lack of recognition, conservative attitude of society and lack of awareness...

Morning-after pills should be back on air. And not just private companies but even the Union health ministry should advertise them. This is the view of a four-member expert committee set up by the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) recently to assess the pros and cons of allowing advertising of emergency pills. The Drug Controller General's office banned advertising of all emergency contraceptives like Unwanted-72 and I-Pill on January 11,...

CSES says almost all of them in northern districts  Marriage below the age of 15 not reported Data show teenage marriages coming down KOCHI: Despite the rapid strides made by women in Kerala in social development, education and a host of reproductive health indicators, teenage marriage of girls continues to survive in the State, mainly in the Malabar region. One out of every 15 women in Kerala marries before attaining the legal minimum age...