-Frontline Childhood TB has been neglected for decades, but in the past few years the WHO has begun to realise its real impact in terms of incidence, prevalence and mortality. THE number of annual new tuberculosis (TB) cases in India has been nearly 2.2 million for the past couple of years. Many of these infected people would have been in contact with children aged under five years before being diagnosed and,...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Around two in five men in India - nearly 40.7% - were found to hold 'rigid and discriminatory' gender views. This segment believes women to be inferior. Such men are very controlling. They tend to dictate whom the wives can meet and do not allow participation in decision-making. Further, men who hold the most rigid views of masculinity are three times more likely to physically abuse their...

-The Indian Express Lucknow: Local clerics in nearly 30 Muslim dominated villages in Sambhal district have given a call from mosques to boycott the polio immunisation drive to pressure the government into making their villages part of Moradabad district. The clerics have also told villagers to stop sending their children to school, forbidden them from attending political rallies, and banned the entry of politicians into the villages. Any family that disobeys will be...

-Outlook Kolkata: Opposing the blanket ban imposed on bicycles and other forms of non-motorised transport (NMT) in the city, eminent social activist Medha Patkar today said such restrictions take away the right to life of poor people. "A lot of poor people are dependent on non-motorised transport for their livelihood, such a ban in effect takes away their right to life," Patkar said at the Transport City Dialogue here through videoconferencing. She said...

-Down to Earth Half of India's population defecates in the open. In all probability, they will continue to do so for the next 10 years By the time you read this article, some 600 million Indians must have taken that first call of nature. But for most, it must have been very unusual: to take that hesitant and humiliating step out of their homes to defecate in the open. Everyday, an...