-The Hindu Sundarpahari (Jharkhand): In Santhali villages in Godda, along Jharkhand's border with Bihar, many slanting stone megaliths that mark the community graves are those of young women who died in childbirth in recent years. Tribal families in the hamlets scattered in Sundarpahari and Poreyhat - many of whom speak only Santahli - recount desperate struggles for medical help when young women in their families in advanced stages of pregnancy experienced...

-Down to Earth Open defecation along the Gandak in Uttar Pradesh causes the disease in Bihar, says study Bihar all set to check encephalitis Open defecation along the Gandak in Uttar Pradesh causes the disease in Bihar, says study TIRED of failures by researchers to identify the virus that causes acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), the Bihar government, along with Unicef and the Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRI), has sent...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In another proof that worsening air quality in Indian cities is affecting people's health, a study has found that Indians have 30% lower lung function as compared to Europeans. Things could get worse if immediate steps are not taken to curb vehicular emission, doctors warned. The study was conducted on 10,000 healthy, non-smoking individuals in Jaipur, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Kashmir. "We measured the Peak Expiratory...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Delhiites are happiest with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) followed by the electricity department and unhappiest with the Delhi Police and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) among all the public services. This was revealed during focus group discussions done as part of a perception survey done for the Delhi Human Development Report 2013. In the survey, people were asked to rate their dealings with...

-The Hindu     Among basic services, sanitation - public toilets in particular - ranks as national Capital's worst public service Despite an overall improvement in the quality of life it offers its citizens, Delhi is home to large inequalities in access to basic services, the Capital's latest Human Development Report, which was released by Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday, has revealed. Seven years after coming out with its first...