-The Asian Age New Delhi: With traces of toxic metals found in fruits and vegetables grown along the banks of the Yamuna river, the city administration is likely to ban farming with contaminated water from the river. The national capital receives 95 per cent of its vegetables and fruits from other states. Of the remaining five per cent, half of these are grown using the Yamuna's polluted water. As the move...

-The Hindu The Centre has launched a major war against Japanese encephalitis which claims hundreds of young lives and causes high morbidity among children in several States across the country during monsoon. Within weeks of taking over, Union Health and Family welfare Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that his priority would be to ensure 100 per cent immunisation against the killer disease. Expressing extreme distress over the "runaway conquest of encephalitis," Dr Harsh...

-The Hindu Kolkata: Twenty-five children suffering from severe malnutrition and low weight from the five closed tea gardens of north Bengal have been admitted to State-run hospitals in Jalpaiguri district. Twenty-five children suffering from severe malnutrition and low weight from the five closed tea gardens of north Bengal have been admitted to State-run hospitals in Jalpaiguri district. All the children are below five years of age and from the tea gardens which...

-BBC At least 60 people died in a recent outbreak of viral encephalitis in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, a top health official has said. Doctors say patients come from seven affected districts in northern Bengal. The disease usually occurs during the monsoon season across northern India and West Bengal is normally not among the worst-affected states. Encephalitis causes brain inflammation and can result in brain damage. Symptoms include headaches and fever. West...

-PTI United Nations: About 27 per cent of women aged 20 to 49 years were married before age 15 in India, UNICEF said in a report titled "Ending Child Marriage - Progress and prospects." India has the sixth highest prevalence of child marriages in the world, with one in every three child bride living in India, a United Nations report said. Child marriage among girls is most common in South Asia and sub-Saharan...