The new Chairman of the Press Council of India, Markandey Katju, wants to make it an instrument of mediation in addition to adjudication.   THE appointment of Justice Markandey Katju, a former judge of the Supreme Court, as Chairman of the Press Council of India is about the best thing that has happened to that body in a long while. It is no exaggeration to say that the PCI commands little prestige...

-The Hindu   A Central team of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has praised the implementation of various health care and nutrition schemes in Rajasthan and expressed hope that the constant decline in infant and maternal mortality rates would help improve the status of health indicators in the State. The 12-member team, divided into two sub-groups, visited Chittorgarh and Barmer districts and reviewed the progress of initiatives taken under the NRHM, mid-day...

India records the highest number of child pneumonia deaths globally, but is among the only four of the 15 countries with the highest child pneumonia death toll that is yet to introduce the newest generation of pneumoccal vaccines. A Pneumonia progress report, 2011, released by the International Access Vaccine Centre ( IVAC) and John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health last week shows that India recorded 3.71 lakh child pneumonia deaths...

A mobile device that detects TB by 'sniffing' a person's breath will make a huge impact in villages far from health facilities A team of Indian researchers are planning to have a prototype of an "electronic nose" that can detect tuberculosis from a person's breath in hospitals by October 2013, after receiving a $950,000 grant on Monday. Working on the same principles as a breathalyser, the device – if successful – could...

-The Hindu   Allays apprehensions about Kudankulam nuclear plant If the great Chola emperor Raja Raja Chola I had believed for a moment that his monumental structure will be brought down in an earthquake, would we have got the magnificent Brihadeeswara Temple? Or, if Homi Bhabha had decided that radiation is too harmful for citizens, will the country be running a safe and successful atomic power programme for the last 40 years, producing 4,700...