-The Hindu Bangalore: In one of the biggest cattle deaths due to foot and mouth disease in the State, the outbreak in southern districts has claimed 730 head of cattle so far this month. Negligence on the part of farmers to get the cattle vaccinated and also delay in starting the seasonal vaccination is said to have contributed to the outbreak even as the officials suspect that a new strain of the...

-The Hindu     Governments have ritually abused the latitude granted by the Indian Penal Code and the Constitution to harass, intimidate and arrest scores of writers, journalists and artists It is common knowledge that Article 19 (1) (a) of the Indian Constitution lays down that "all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression"; it is also common knowledge that this fundamental right is not absolute, as the immediately following...

-The Hindu Lax monitoring, poor public engagement and inadequate training to vaccinators have dealt a serious blow to the crucial pentavalent immunisation programme The Pentavalent vaccine, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's latest addition to the immunisation programme, has run into a storm. The Supreme Court has sent a notice to the Ministry asking why the vaccine should not be banned in the country. The vaccine is no stranger to controversy. A...

-The Hindu Equating juveniles with adult criminals is neither scientifically correct nor normatively defensible The August 31 verdict of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in the Delhi gang rape case, handing down a bare three-year custodial sentence to the juvenile member, has generated a fresh round of debate on the legality and desirability of juvenile justice itself: why should juveniles above 16 indulging in violent crimes not be treated as adult criminals?...

-The United Nations The rate of new HIV infections fell by one-third over the past decade due to increased spending and effective treatment, the United Nations agency leading the global HIV/AIDS response today reported. The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that 2.3 million adults and children were newly infected with HIV in 2012, a figure that represents a 33 per cent reduction in annual New Cases compared to 2001. In the...