-The Hindu Business Line The manner in which alternating wet and dry spells trigger disease and morbidity needs to be better understood Monsoon fury was in full display this year with record floods over Kerala as well as widespread floods from Gujarat to the North-East. The season also produced a wide swathe of drought that covered much of peninsular India with a smattering of districts from Gujarat to the eastern regions and...

-The Telegraph Despite being prohibited the practice remains widespread and unmodernised, and violators are not punished The death of five sanitation workers in Delhi is a grim reminder of the hostile conditions that confront manual scavenging in India. Manual scavenging has been prohibited by law. Yet, it remains unchecked. There is also a distinct lack of effort to make this objectionable occupation safe and dignified. This is the net result of institutional...

-The Hindu The Kerala model can be implemented across India with the same secular and gender-sensitive spirit Kumari died on September 1. She had contracted Leptospirosis while doing relief work in Kerala after the floods, away from her own home which had not been affected. She was a health volunteer and prominent member of the Kudumbashree Mission in her panchayat in Ernakulum district. Kumari’s work and life symbolises the spirit of Kerala...

-The Hindu Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu): After free and cashless deliveries, newborn babies and mothers were transported back home free of cost by the Government Headquarters hospital here, thanks to the implementation of Janani-Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) scheme. The scheme rolled out by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is being implemented in the hospital since October 15, making available a host of benefits to the young mothers free of cost. After delivery and...

The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that appropriate steps would soon be taken to amend the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 to eliminate manual scavenging. Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval told a Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu and C.K. Prasad that necessary amendments would be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. The ASG also assured the court that the government would...