India accounts for 58 percent of those who practice open defecation across the globe. In its finding for the year 2008, UNICEF estimated that as many as 63.8 crore people, that is, 54 percent of the country's population, practice open defecation due to inadequate sanitation. On this ignominious list, Indonesia is a distant second with 5.7 crore people lacking toilet facilities, and it accounts for 5 percent of the hapless population which...
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India to roll out world’s largest non-communicable diseases drive by Kounteya Sinha
As many as 26 "mini interventions" will make up the world's largest programme to combat non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that will be launched by India soon. The "New Delhi Call for Action on combating NCDs in India" initiative will be against specific diseases, and some will exclusively address major risk factors like obesity, junk food and tobacco consumption. The World Health Organization (WHO) only recognizes cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung ailments as...
More »State frames regulations for implementation of RTE Act by Swati Shinde Gole
The state government has defined regulations for the implementation of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, in all schools in the state. After a cabinet decision earlier this month, the state government had decided to extend primary education up to std VIII, to allow 25 per cent students from economically backward class in to private schools, etc. Minister of school education, Rajendra Darda, said, "The rules have...
More »Accent on safety by R Ramachandran
The Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill is a first step towards granting functional autonomy to the country's nuclear regulator. THE true independence and functional autonomy of the existing Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has been questioned for long. The issue gained further importance in recent months after it was raised in many quarters in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March in Japan. To allay public fears as...
More »Targeting Dalits by S Dorairaj
The police action against Dalits in Paramakudi leaves indelible scars on the psyche of the oppressed people all over Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu Police, in its modern avatar, reflects a glorious tradition of over a century and a half. It was the only force to embark on State-sponsored modernisation in the early 1990s which was pioneered by me during my first tenure as Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996....
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