World Breastfeeding Week may be over for the rest of the world, but the Union Health Ministry has announced plans to make it a monthly fixture in India to raise awareness of the health benefits of breastfeeding. During an event last week, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan announced that a breastfeeding awareness week will […]
Rajasthan
Company makes questionable claim of cancer cure?
Olives are known to be a healthy food. The high concentration of unsaturated fat has been shown in the past to improve cardiac health by moderating cholesterol levels. However, their ability to cure cancer is a far-flung claim that warrants tremendous scrutiny — scrutiny that seems all but absent in media reporting. Rajasthan Olive […]
Medicines for water-borne disease in flood-ravaged Thane
Maharashtra’s Thane district has been battling heavy rainfall in recent weeks, causing floods and leaving it vulnerable to the spread of water-borne disease. To guard against such infections, officials have been distributing medicines – an effort which has reached more than 60,000 people. The state has been beleaguered by intense flooding amidst heavy monsoon rainfall. […]
E-cigarette industry appeals against potential ban
The e-cigarette industry has appealed against the proposed ban on the devices, calling on regulation instead of outright prohibition. With the Centre in position to initiate a blanket ban on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) by classifying them under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, the Trade Representatives of ENDS in India (TRENDS), an association of […]
Rajasthan to look to Maharashtra on how to handle swine flu cases
Rajasthan has been battling swine flu cases since the beginning of the year. Now it is looking to another state with a high burden of the disease – Maharashtra – for guidance on how to handle it. “We will implement [the] Maharashtra model in the state to combat swine flu,” said Dr Ravi Prakash Sharma, […]
Did the state budget promise relief for farmers in Rajasthan?
Towards the end of June, 45-year-old Sohan Lal Kadela was found dead in the town of Raisinghnagar in Rajasthan. Lal was a farmer, who took out a crop loan of Rs 2.5 lakh. Unable to repay, and facing pressure to do so, he committed suicide by ingesting pesticides. “People have been troubling me and demanding […]
Rajasthan: Chief Minister speaks up on silicosis
Every year, 2.78 million people die because of diseases or accidents incurred in the workplace. In India, where eighty percent of labour occurs in unsafe environments, one of the major occupational hazards is silicosis. Nationwide, between three and ten million workers are at risk of developing the disease. For workers in Rajasthan, the toll is […]
World Environment Day highlights a health crisis
World Environment Day is observed annually on June 5th to commemorate the importance of conserving our environment from the many threats it faces. For India, World Environment Day offers a valuable opportunity to recognise one of the major issues confronting the nation: its poor environmental health, ranked as the worst in the world in the […]
Crackdown on e-cigarettes and similar devices
Authorities in Rajasthan are moving against e-cigarettes in the state following the decision of the state government to ban the devices. Coinciding with last week’s observance of World No Tobacco Day, it was announced that e-cigarettes, or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), would be prohibited in the northern state. The rules prohibit the devices from […]
When voters boycotted polls because of water scarcity in Gujarat
In Gujarat last month, voters turned to the polls to protest water scarcity in the state – by sitting them out entirely. The 17th Lok Sabha polls in Ahmedabad was the scene of fanfare on April 23rd, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast his vote in this year’s elections. However, elsewhere in the state, many […]