-The Telegraph   The risk of dying from cancer is nearly the same in rural and urban areas and the highest among the least educated, according to a study described as the first to provide nationally representative estimates of cancer deaths across India. The study, by researchers at the University of Toronto, Canada, and collaborating Indian institutions, challenges a common perception that cancer in India is primarily a disease of urban and educated...

The risk of dying from cancer is highest in the Northeast and the lowest in Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa, according to a new study described as the first to provide direct nationally-representative estimates of cancer deaths across the country. The study by researchers at the Centre for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto, Canada, and Indian institutions has shown large variations in cancer risk across the states, but suggests...

  For women, the NREGA would bring important social gains   Not being an expert on the subject and too lazy to read all the fine print, I do not know the exact allocations under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act this year. But I gather the money has been cut down, largely because the sums allocated last year were not fully used by most states. Maybe there were other considerations...

This month, two women’s stories, told courageously, helped to underline the reality of domestic violence in India. Nita Bhalla, a journalist, wrote for the BBC about being physically assaulted by her partner. Meena Kandasamy, a poet and writer on social issues, wrote movingly in Outlook, a national newsmagazine, of surviving a violent marriage: “My skin has seen enough hurt to tell its own story.” Both Ms. Kandasamy and Ms. Bhalla are,...

A new study looking at cancer mortality in 2010 in India found a high 71 per cent (3,95,400) deaths in people between 30 and 69 years. Cancer accounted for 8 per cent of the 2·5 million total male deaths and 12 per cent of the 1·6 million total female deaths in the same age group. The high mortality rate during the middle age is very different from the developed countries,...