Nearly 60 per cent of tuberculosis medication dose strengths sold in India through prescriptions of private practitioners do not conform with standard TB treatment guidelines, a study has revealed. The findings corroborate suggestions made by some Indian doctors — several times over the past two decades — that a majority of private practitioners do not write correct prescriptions for treating TB. The government’s TB control programme provides free TB treatment to more...

The arrest of Suresh Kalmadi on 25 April marked yet another scene in the prolonged drama surrounding the Commonwealth Games held in Delhi in October 2010. Yet the general media focus on Kalmadi may have served to distract attention from the many other acts of omission and commission that mark the sordid history of that extravagantly planned and deeply flawed public show. In these other actions, there are stories of funds...

Alarmed at the declining figures of female population in Maharashtra, as revealed by the provisional census of 2011, the state health department has launched a crackdown on clinics, which illegally perform sex determination tests. According to department officials, they will deploy 'Decoy Sting Operation Teams' at the district level. This team, which consists of khabris (informants), will track down clinics performing sex determination tests. Local health NGOs will also be...

A rapid assessment of the effects of Endosulfan on cashew plantations, ecology, biodiversity and the people in Kasaragod, conducted by V.S. Vijayan of Salim Ali Foundation, has surmised that the human sufferings and loss of biodiversity caused by the aerial spraying of Endosulfan by the State-owned Plantation Corporation of Kerala in Kasaragod district would qualify as ‘State-sponsored crime'. The study said the State was duty-bound to provide total support to the...

The Prime Minister-appointed panel on Food and Public Distribution System (F&PDS) headed by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia has suggested that the current system of distributing PDS foodgrain per household should be replaced with per capita allocation. According to National Sample Survey (NSS) data, lower income households have more members per family than higher income households, the panel has said in its draft report. Justifying its suggestion as a “progressive...