Even as the world welcomed the seven billionth member of the global population this week, medical researchers warned that rapid-growth economies such as India still had a high proportion of morbidity, with more than 290 million Indians suffering from Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). In an article ‘A disproportionate burden of NTDs found in India and South Asia,' tropical diseases scientists said though India and South Asia had made significant economic progress,...
More »SEARCH RESULT
DAP and the holy cow by Sreelatha Menon
DAP — the three-letter magic word which rules the life of most farmers. Some say it is not magic, but black magic, like a drug with a tantalising hold that just won’t let you go. DAP is short for Diammonium Phosphate (a commonly used fertiliser). Whether illiterate or not, farmers all over India know about DAP. And, currently, the biggest crisis that they are facing is the 100 per cent...
More »Jolt to Baba’s bottle of juice
-The Telegraph The Union health ministry today warned that bottle gourd juice should not be consumed if it comes from bitter-tasting pulp in an advisory on a practice promoted by yoga and Ayurveda evangelist Baba Ramdev among others. “Bitter-tasting bottle gourd juice should not be consumed at all,” the ministry said, urging that a small piece of the pulp of bottle gourd, lauki in Hindi, should be tasted before the extraction of...
More »Tragedy exposes hospital plight by Vivek Chhetri
The Bijanbari bridge collapse has brought to the fore the lack of basic amenities at the hill hospitals, whose staff were yesterday praised by the chief minister for their efficiency in tackling the emergency that arose out of the accident. But the healthcare system needs more than just praise. Basic equipment like CT scan and MRI machines have not yet been installed at the Darjeeling district hospital while the Bijanbari rural...
More »Home voices against Anna by Jaideep Hardikar
Vilas Bhagwan Pote grins as he recalls his election as sarpanch of Ralegan Siddhi, Anna Hazare’s village in Ahmednagar district, 11 years ago. “I was the traitor, the bad guy,” he jokes. “I openly defied Anna because I felt he was wrong.” Pote, a Dalit charmakar (cobbler) then in his 30s, had been unhappy as the 2000 panchayat polls drew close. As always, Anna had nominated a new executive body for the...
More »