An expert panel appointed by the Centre has found to its horror that fluorosis has reached epidemic proportions in Garhwa as a result of the Jharkhand government’s negligence and failure to check the alarming spread of the disease. The team, appointed by the Union ministry of drinking water and sanitation, visited the district last month and found men, women and children of all ages with deformities due to fluoride poisoning from...

As many as 26 "mini interventions" will make up the world's largest programme to combat non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that will be launched by India soon. The "New Delhi Call for Action on combating NCDs in India" initiative will be against specific diseases, and some will exclusively address major risk factors like obesity, junk food and tobacco consumption. The World Health Organization (WHO) only recognizes cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung ailments as...

As the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement moves to the legislative phase it has to rid itself of the panacea model. The Hazare group has to realise that it has no monopoly on Diagnosis or the cure for corruption. The Lokpal is no magic bullet which will solve the problem of corruption. Corruption needs a more cautious and nuanced problematic and a wider set of solutions. To put it facetiously, Hazare’s...

Anna Hazare is not Mohandas Gandhi or Jayaprakash Narayan. No one wants to seriously hear his Diagnosis of the ills of the Indian political system or his vision of a future India and, so, it is pointless to find fault with either. He is not even a Gandhian satyagrahi looking for self-purification or waiting to listen to his inner voice. He has used his fasts to unashamedly pressure a corrupt,...

Hypertension and diabetes seem to be rampant in two of India's most modern metropolises, Bangalore and Chennai. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said under his department's programme to test people for the twin diseases, 14% and 21% were found to be suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, respectively, in Banglaore. In Chennai, out of 3 lakhs tested, 50,000 were found to be diabetic and another 60,000 hypertensive. Azad described the...