-The Indian Express A new study has found that mothers born in India but living in Canada are significantly more likely to have male babies for their second and third births compared with women in Canada. Researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto conducted the study. "Our findings raise questions about why there are more male liveborns than female liveborns among Indian couples who have had two or more previous...

BANWARA, India – In the fall of 2006, Gita Devi was pregnant with her sixth child when her family fell on hard times. A severe drought made it more difficult than ever to find farm work here in India’s northeastern plains. The family couldn’t afford food. It was unable to get a government ration card to buy grains and rice at steep discounts, even though it clearly was poor enough to...

To plug loopholes in the law on maternity benefits, a government panel has suggested an amendment forbidding the sacking of a pregnant employee on any ground.  The Planning Commission's working group which had been asked to review the Maternity Benefit Act 1961 has also recommended increasing the duration of maternity leave, though it did not specify by how days it should be increased.  The group wants the government to incorporate a clause...

Women today are spending longer in labour than half a century back. After comparing data on nearly 1.4 lakh deliveries between 1960 and 2000, scientists have found that the first stage of labour had increased by 2.6 hours for first-time mothers.  For women who had previously given birth, this early stage of labour took two hours longer in recent years than for women in the 1960s. Infants born in the contemporary...

Tobacco-related cancers and cervical cancers caused most cancer deaths Cancer killed 5,56,400 people across the country in 2010. The 30-69 age group accounted for 71 per cent (3,95,400) of the deaths. In 2010, cancer alone accounted for 8 per cent of the 2.5 million total male deaths and 12 per cent of the 16 million total female deaths in this age group. These are some of the findings of a paper published...