-The Hindu A student of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) suffering from severe cerebral palsy has become the only student with the severe Disability to complete a Ph.D from the varsity. Akshansha Gupta, who hails from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, is suffering from 95 percent Disability but managed to complete his thesis on ‘Brain and Computer interface’. JNU Vice-Chancellor Sudhir Kumar Sopory awarded Mr. Gupta the Ph.D in a special ceremony. Cerebral Palsy affects...

-DNA A government resolution (GR) to bring back the system was issued this week by the social justice and special assistance department. The move aims to "economically empower" the Valmiki and other scheduled caste (SC) communities, which have been traditionally involved in the cleaning jobs, states the GR. All sanitation workers employed in the government, semi-government and civic bodies across Maharashtra can now nominate their kin for their job after they retire...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A medical panel has produced India's first-ever rule book to tackle widespread vitamin D deficiency that prescribes regular, possibly lifelong, doses to even healthy adults but warns that doctors may be over-testing and over-prescribing the drug. An expert group set by the Endocrine Society of India, an association of specialists, has prescribed vitamin D to healthy adults, adolescents, infants and all pregnant women after 12 weeks of gestation...

-Scroll.in The decision to waive fees could provide a model for increasing enrolment of persons with disabilities in other educational institutions too. On October 7, Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani announced that the Indian Institute of Technology Council had waived the fees for students with disabilities admitted to IITs. This followed a decision to extend a complete waiver on hostel fees to students in the "persons with Disability" category at...

-The Indian Express Decades of mismanagement have hobbled India’s mental health programme An event commemorating World Mental Health week opened at the WHO in Geneva this week. At a key session, the Disease Control Priorities project released its recommendations to governments to address the burden of mental disorders. This was timely for India, for few countries have witnessed so many high-profile debates related to mental health while ignoring the centrality of mental health...