-The Hindu However well-intentioned the Supreme Court might be in its efforts to cleanse the political system of criminals, its decision to bar any person who is in jail or in police custody from contesting an election to legislative bodies is a case of the remedy being worse than the DISEase. By extending the curtailment of the right to vote of a person in prison or lawful police custody to...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The World Health Organisation wants India's public to give up Bollywood songs as caller tunes on their mobile phones and replace them with short health messages from superstars of India's entertainment industry. The global health agency today launched what is being dubbed as the world's first attempt to promote health campaigns via caller tunes, drawing on the voices of 10 personalities from Bollywood and other entertainment sectors. Amitabh Bachchan's...

-PTI   India could prevent over nine million deaths due to cardiovascular DISEase over the next decade if it implements smoking bans and levy higher tobacco taxes, a new study has found. Smoke-free laws and increased tobacco taxes would yield substantial and rapid health benefits by averting future cardiovascular DISEase (CVD) deaths, researchers said. "Smoke-free legislation has not been consistently implemented, one in three adults reported being exposed to smoking at work in 2009...

-The United Nations One in three people is now covered by at least one life-saving measure to limit tobacco use, according to a United Nations report which highlights the progress over the past five years of reducing potential smokers through advertising bans and awareness campaigns. According to the report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2013, the number of people covered by bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship increased by almost 400...

-Live Mint The country is a happy hunting ground for communicable DISEases In a Mint article last week, economist Dean Spears pointed out that the double whammy of high population density and unsanitary conditions in India stunts the growth of children, who bear a disproportionate burden of infectious DISEases and lose their ability to absorb nutrients. Unless India ramps up its public health system, providing extra food will mean little for...