Health activists from across the country have asked the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry to take immediate cognisance of the recent report of the Department Related Standing Committee that has criticised the functioning of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for irregular approvals for clinical trials and sale of medicines to pharmaceutical companies that put patients at risk. In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the activists asked the...

-The Telegraph A one-stop web-enabled solution for silk farmers of the country was launched today. SILKS (Sericulture, Information Linkages and Knowledge System) was inaugurated by Ishita Roy, member secretary of Central Silk Board, Bangalore, today through video conferencing. It is expected to go a long way in addressing the needs and problems of silk farmers in the country. “This should be used as a tool for decision making and states should start working on...

Travelling to India this summer? Better be prepared against malaria. The World Health Organization (WHO) has alerted international travelers against the active threat of malaria in India. In its latest 'International Travel and Health Bulletin 2012', the WHO has said that malaria risk exists throughout the year in the whole country at altitudes below 2,000m. The bulletin cautions travelers against malaria infections, especially while travelling to the Northeast, the Andaman & Nicobar...

-The Telegraph Union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal has invited a group of students from the Northeast to discuss the problems they face while studying in other cities. Coordinators of the Justice for Richard Loitam Facebook campaign told this correspondent that the Union minister has invited Monika Khangembam, a Manipuri student in Bangalore, to be a member of the group of students from the region. She had coordinated the Facebook campaign, which...

Dalits, OBCs in India’s colleges are using beef as a symbol of a resurgent identity     “Non-Brahmins have evidently undergone a revolution. From being beef-eaters to have become non-beef-eaters was indeed a revolution. But if non-Brahmins underwent one revolution, Brahmins had undergone two. They gave up beef-eating, which was one revolution. To have given up meat-eating altogether and become vegetarians was another revolution.”     —B.R. Ambedkar *** The Beef Menu     Available In Kerala,...