-The Telegraph New Delhi: A leading cancer specialist has called on the government to investigate whether a "tobacco lobby" has influenced arms of the government to initiate action against public health organisations engaged in India's tobacco control efforts. Kailash Sharma, director of academics at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, has cited leaked government and tobacco industry documents to seek a probe into whether a Union home ministry note allegedly depicting tobacco control...

-Scroll.in RTI documents show that Niti Aayog largely worked with World Bank and top private healthcare industry. The Niti Aayog’s blueprint to increase the role of private hospitals in treating non-communicable diseases in urban India by handing district hospitals over to the private sector on 30-year leases was built largely on a template provided by the World Bank. The template was fine-tuned in close coordination with top private healthcare industry representatives. State...

-PTI London: Leading UK retail chains such as John Lewis and Habitat have withdrawn granite products from their range over fears of child labour and slavery within its Indian supply chains. Businesses selling granite products such as kitchen worktops and tiles are scrutinising the source of their products after global investigators discovered that debt bondage, underage workers and unsafe, unhealthy working conditions are part and parcel of daily working life in Indian...

-Huffington Post blog A result of dysfunctional municipal planning and governance. The flooding woes of Indian cities have hit the headlines yet again, with Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Agartala being among the worst affected. As for the response to these crises—there is enough evidence to indicate that the patchwork solutions that have been employed will work like steroid shots that might mitigate the issue temporarily, but worsen it in the future. Planning in...

-Frontline.in The death of nearly 60 children in Gorakhpur because of the unavailability of oxygen can be directly attributed to the larger issue of drastic reduction in budgetary allocations for and the gross neglect of the public health system. THE death of almost 60 children, including infants, in the government-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College Hospital in Gorakhpur within a span of 48 hours raises several issues relating to the state...