-The Hindu India has close to 1,00,000 cases of drug-resistant TB, most of which remain undiagnosed and untreated. So India’s state of preparedness to fight DR TB remains questionable. In a small, airless room in Dharavi, Owais sat chatting with his wife and two children. Outside, the famous rains of Mumbai beat down relentlessly on the thousands of tiny rooms that dot Dharavi. “I hope it doesn’t flood,” said Owais’s wife as he...

-The Hindu Efforts to include children with disabilities in mainstream schools are fraught with challenges, say experts. Chennai: The last few weeks have been hectic for Sangeetha* (name changed) as she has been looking to admit her 11-year-old son into a new school for the coming academic year. “My son has mild Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD) and was studying in a private school in Mogappair but he and 17 other children with special...

-PTI More than 5.5 million people die prematurely each year due to air pollution with over half of those deaths occurring in China and India Washington: More than 5.5 million people die prematurely each year due to air pollution with over half of those deaths occurring in China and India, two of the world’s fastest-growing economies, according to a new research. According to scientists from the US, Canada, China and India, who...

-Down to Earth The debt in rural households is higher, even though their total assets are lesser than urban households   A new survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) shows that rural households have higher debts than their urban counterparts. At the same time, an urban household owns more than double the asset than that of a rural household. A rural household, on an average, owned assets of Rs 10...

-Frontline.in An initiative focussed on Kerala’s development experience exposes a worrying trend of rising inequality and proposes a strategy for sustainable and equitable growth. THE fourth international Congress on Kerala Studies, organised by the A.K.G. Centre for Study and Research in Thiruvananthapuram on January 9-10, has generated much interest for its focus on a worrying new trend in Kerala’s development experience: rising inequality and marginalisation of large sections of people despite...