-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre's regulatory body for traditional Medicine has decided to offer a two-year postgraduate diploma course in ayurveda to doctors of modern Medicine, drawing criticism from some medical professionals. The course will help doctors with degrees such as MBBS and MD to learn the basic principles of ayurveda, a senior official with the Central Council for Indian Medicine said. "We believe there is interest in ayurveda, mainly from doctors...

-The Hindu The Mental Health Care Bill, 2016, passed by the Rajya Sabha is a watershed legislation that lays down clear responsibilities for the state and has provisions that empower individuals and families. Crucially, it can expand access to treatment, which is dismally poor today. According to a recent review in The Lancet, of gaps in mental health treatment, although both India and China have renewed their commitment to address the...

-PTI Assuming 80% availability of doctors, it is estimated around 7.67 lakh (allopathic) doctors may be actually available for service There is one doctor for every 893 patients in the country if allopathic doctors and those practising Ayurveda, Unani and Homeopathy streams are considered together, Lok Sabha was informed today. In a written reply, Minister of State for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste said there as 9.59 lakh registered allopathic doctors in the country...

-The Telegraph Ahmedabad: Jignesh Mewani, 35, had a pleasant surprise when he returned home on Monday evening. A group of neighbours in the predominantly middle-class Dalit locality of Chwalnagar in Ahmedabad were waiting for him with flowers, near a small stage they had erected to felicitate their newfound "hero". The previous evening and through the day, they had watched the young Dalit activist on TV and read about him in newspapers, awestruck at...

-The Hindu This is hardly a rice ready for cultivation by farmers — it has not even entered the stage of biosafety evaluation by government regulatory institutions. Recently 110 Nobel Laureates issued a strongly worded plea to Greenpeace to “abandon their campaign against [genetically modified organisms] in general and Golden Rice in particular.” This is not the first time notable scientists have waded into the controversy surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops. What...