Calcuttans tried many a trick to fight the discomfiture induced by rolling power cuts today but a doctor in a pitch-dark labour room had little else other than a pack of cotton to help a lady who had become a mother minutes ago. The young mother lay in the labour room bleeding for 30 minutes this morning as the doctor could not stitch the cut in the feeble light of candles...

While it has achieved exceptional growth in many spheres, Surat is lagging behind in terms of gender equality. As per Surat Municipal Corporation records, the sex ratio shows a dismal trend in the city. The gap is high in the child sex ratio i.e. 0-6 age group.As per birth registration figures provided by SMC, the city is far behind the national average. In 2010, 816 girls were born against 1000 boys...

Important draft legislation was recently unveiled in Rajasthan that would impose serious punishment for ‘witch-hunting’. Getting legislators to sign off on the bill, however, will prove difficult. Over the years, the women’s movement in Rajasthan has had some success in making violence against women into an important political issue. Activists have forced political parties and governments to demonstrate that they are addressing this constituency, which the media has dubbed ‘Mahila Sangathan’....

Last month, the Archives of Internal Medicine published a scathing reassessment of a 12-year-old research study of Neurontin, a seizure drug made byPfizer. The study, which had included more than 2,700 subjects and was carried out by Parke-Davis (now part of Pfizer), was notable for how poorly it was conducted. The investigators were inexperienced and untrained, and the design of the study was so flawed it generated few if any...

-AP   Rural America now accounts for just 16 percent of the U.S. population, the lowest ever. The latest 2010 census numbers hint at an emerging America where, by mid-century, city boundaries become indistinct and rural areas grow ever less relevant. Many communities could shrink to virtual ghost towns as they shutter businesses and close down schools, demographers say. More metro areas are booming into sprawling megalopolises. Barring fresh investment that could...