‍‍Corona Killed More Than One Lakh in Telangana During 2020, MeeSeva RTI Reveal

The RTI Reveal the real face of the Telangana government on covid deaths counting the data. This reveal by a MeeSeva RTI as the entire data source to the governmental bodies.

A RTI reply from citizen helpline MeeSeva suggests potential Covid death undercounting in Telangana. State doesn’t call it a Covid death if patient has comorbidities. 

Telangana witnessed thousands of ‘excess deaths’ in 2020, as compared to the average annual fatalities in the four preceding pre-pandemic years, state government data obtained through an RTI query suggests.   

‘Excess deaths’ refer to the additional fatalities reported in a certain time period, as compared to the average number of deaths expected in that time based on trends witnessed in earlier years. 

In the context of Covid, excess deaths may convey pandemic fatalities that never made it to official records — for example, those that were categorised with a different cause — or patients of other grievous ailments who could not get requisite medical care as the healthcare system turned its focus to the novel coronavirus.
  
While the Telangana government acknowledges that there has been an increase in deaths in 2020 and 2021, as compared to previous years, it says they are yet to look into the matter since they’re “busy tackling the pandemic”.

According to data sourced by city-based activist Vijay Gopal from  ‘MeeSeva’ — a government-run citizen helpline that helps with issuing/applying for Aadhaar cards, ration cards etc, besides providing copies of birth, death certificates — Telangana witnessed at least 1,20,929 deaths in 2020. 

In comparison, the state of approximately 3.5 crore residents, recorded at least 79,097 deaths in 2019, 62,142 in 2018, 63,900 in 2017, and 48,849 in 2016, the data shows. The average thus derived comes to 63,497/year. 
At least 1,80,437 deaths were recorded between March 2020 and mid-June 2021, the RTI data further states.

However, experts said the actual figures could be different, even higher, because of how MeeSeva records data — the figures here convey the number of people who died in the stated period, but only those whose relatives approached MeeSeva for copies of their death certificates.  

The official Covid death toll for Telangana, which recorded its first case of the disease in March, was 1,544 as of 31 December. The number had risen to 3,831 by 10 August.

Reached for comment, the Telangana government denied undercounting of Covid deaths in the state. Telangana Director of Public Health G. Srinivas Rao said a Covid-infected individual’s death is only categorised as pandemic-related if the patient was otherwise healthy and without comorbidities. 

“There is no issue of underreporting. We report whatever has come to our notice. For any death to be officially counted as a Covid death, the person should not have any comorbidities and must be full healthy (say a 35- or a 45-year-old) and then if they’re infected and unfortunately succumb to the virus – only then we count it as a Covid death,” he said. “If the person is aged and has comorbidities, then we do not really consider it as one.”

Rao said the rise of deaths in 2020 and 2021 has come to the state’s notice but the department is yet to look into the issue since they’re “busy tackling the pandemic”.  

MeeSeva was launched as an online e-governance service in 1999, with one centre, by the then N. Chandrababu Naidu government of united Andhra Pradesh. In 2001, it was launched on a larger scale as a pilot project. 

As of now, there are about 4,500 MeeSeva centres in the state, according to state project manager Narasimha Rao Bajjuri from Telangana’s Electronic Services Delivery department.

A citizen usually obtains original death certificates from their local municipality. MeeSeva comes into the picture when the citizen wants a copy of the certificate for sundry purposes such as bank work etc, Gopal told #KhabarLive. 

This means that the number of deaths, as evidenced by MeeSeva data, just refers to the number of fatalities for which death certificate copies were sought, Gopal said. 

“Every death registered has a ‘unique death certificate number’ and that is the data we sought from MeeSeva via this RTI… It’s like, say, an Aadhaar number. So, all these death certificates issued are unique and there is no repetition of counts,” Gopal told #KhabarLive. 

Among other things, the data also reveals that, in the first six months of 2021, the state had already recorded 80,631 deaths. This is a figure higher than the annual toll of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Allegations of undercountinting have dogged Telangana’s Covid data since the start of the pandemic.

In April this year, the Telangana High Court, hearing multiple petitions related to Covid, pulled up the state for apparently hiding the real death count and said there should be display boards at crematoria and burial grounds depicting the true picture. 

The same month, a group of doctors, led by Dr Lakshmi Lavanya Alapati, managing director of the American Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology in Hyderabad, wrote to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, urging him to increase testing and issue transparent health bulletins with real cases and death count.
Speaking to #KhabarLive, Alapati said “lapse in death reporting is a shame”. 

“It is a lot in Telangana — deaths are almost 10 times more than what they report as official state count. Even if the government thinks they will lose credibility, it is fine, but what they should do is rewrite the deaths that were not counted before to give us the real picture,” she added. #KhabarLive #hydnews

Dengue, Malaria And Viral Fever Cases Are On Rise In Hyderabad Hospitals

Congenial weather during the ongoing monsoon has started to cause a spurt in cases of dengue and viral fevers in Hyderabad and surrounding districts. Several cases reported in various private hospitals, nursing homes in Hyderabad last one week.

In the last one-week, cases of dengue have started to get reported in private nursing homes, clinics, speciality hospitals and Fever Hospital, Nallakunta in Hyderabad.

A majority of the patients are being presented with high grade fever, body aches, rashes, low back ache, nose bleeding, low platelet count, and quite often a drop in the blood pressure. At Fever Hospital, in the last one week, the authorities have also registered a slight bump in the number of dengue and viral fevers.

“This is the ideal season for mosquito breeding and that’s why cases of dengue and even viral fevers have started to get reported. At present cases are not alarming. However, there are dengue positive patients who are receiving treatment at Fever Hospital and this is the time for the community to take precautions,” says Superintendent, Fever Hospital, Dr K Shankar.

The seasonal diseases expert said that patients and their relatives should understand that platelet transfusion is needed only if the blood platelet count falls below 20,000. Dr Shankar was alluding to instances where every year relatives of dengue patients desperately look for blood platelets for transfusion.

“We have seen that private clinics and nursing homes unnecessarily prescribe blood transfusion even if patient has a platelet count of 80,000 or even 1,00,000. As a result, the families end-up incurring a lot of out of pocket expenditure while procuring platelets,” Dr Shankar said.

The most effective way to prevent dengue is not to allow mosquitoes to breed. Dengue is caused by a virus, which is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Unlike the Culex mosquito, which causes malaria, Aedes is a day time biter and breeds prodigiously in clean water collections like rain water, pools, water collected in tyres, coconut shells etc.

Since Aedes is a day time biter, taking mosquito precautions during nights will not prevent the spread of dengue infection, a major reason why public health care institutions often find it difficult to contain dengue, when compared to malaria.

“Dengue mosquitos bite during day time and people must be cautious. They should observe dry day once a week, preferably Friday and empty all the water collecting points. Individual homes, offices and commercial establishments must remove water from their air-coolers and other small containers at least once a week,” says Director of Public Health, Dr G Srinivas Rao. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍Why 'Gulf Migration Corridor' At Crossroads In Telangana?

Equipping and empowering our migrants to deal with the complications that arise at various stages of migration is no more an option.

Telangana, the 12th-most populated State in India as per the 2011 census, sends about 1.5 million of a total 8.8 million Indian expatriates to the Gulf. These labourers have played a crucial role in transforming the Gulf States from “camel to Cadillac”. Similarly, the Gulf migration has impacted the upward social and economic mobility of migrant households and strengthened Telangana’s economy through remittances they send home.

Northern Telangana, especially Karimnagar, Rajanna Sircilla, Nizamabad, Adilabad and Warangal districts, has witnessed widespread migration to Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Beginning from the second half of the 1980s, people from the Telangana region migrated to the Gulf as a response to the perpetual droughts, lack of irrigable water and the resultant agricultural distress, as well as the heightened naxalism and police encounters. The Gulf oil boom of the 1970s and the tremendous infrastructural development in the region spurred the demand for labour that acted as a pull factor. Since then, the migration of people of all ages, classes and skill levels from the Telangana region to the Gulf is uninterrupted.

Antilogy of Gulf Dreams

Poverty, unemployment, lack of opportunities, local entrepreneurial environment and debt from agriculture force many to seek jobs in Gulf countries. Expatriates from Telangana mostly work in low-paid, semi and low-skilled unorganised sectors of construction, retail, driving, sanitation and domestic work. A few work in the skilled sectors of care services, hospitality and hotel management as well.
Severe hardships they endure in the hostile terrains of Arab lands are yet to be studied and documented by academia and public intellectuals. They are the “precarious proletariat” in the true sense of the term coined by the renowned economist Thomas Piketty, working in 3D contractual jobs (“dirty, dangerous and difficult”) under the much-criticised kafala system in the alienated Gulf societies.

Stagnated wages are an ignored ill-face of blue-collar jobs in the Gulf. They live in overcrowded labour camps or so-called “bachelor” houses, taking up multiple jobs or overtime in arduous work environments with bare minimum facilities for sending some extra money home. They are deprived of social safety nets and labour rights.

Women domestic workers and caregivers who work in the least regulated environments of their sponsors’ houses are often subject to inhuman treatments, gender-based violence and exploitation.
Financial strains and resultant stress, uncertainties related to the temporary contract visa, emotions of loneliness for being away from the family for years together, and concerns about the wellbeing of the family left behind add to the vulnerability of these migrants. Many suffer from serious health problems, and the instances of death due to health complications and suicides are yet to be addressed in our public discourses on migration.

Today, the Gulf dream for many is shattering due to the changes in the tax system, nationalisation and labour quota policies intended to reduce expatriate labourers, such as the Nitaqat in Saudi Arabia. The Covid-19 pandemic has aggravated their sufferings, and many are facing the threat of job loss, over-work and reduced salaries or have already lost their jobs.

Return and Re-migration

Unlike the earlier waves of return migration during the Gulf War (1990s), the oil crisis and the economic depression (2000s), or the labour nationalisation (2010s), the pandemic-induced return is unprecedented. The prospect of re-migration is bleak, especially for the low-skilled, with Gulf labour markets moving forward with rigorous migrant labour reduction programmes as a response to the economic fragility, demographic transition and rising unemployment among natives. Parallelly, India is going through an alarming phase of rising unemployment and declining economic growth. It is in this context that these jobless migrants are returning, feeling dejected and disillusioned.

It is estimated that over 75,000 migrant workers in the Gulf from across Telangana are terminated from their jobs and hurriedly returned without procuring salary arrears and end-of-service benefits such as bonus, PF, gratuity, and so on. This serious issue of “wage theft” is not entirely a new pandemic-induced phenomenon, but several employers are taking undue advantage of the current situation. Hence, returning penniless and abashed, they are forced to borrow money or sell assets that they have hard-earned from the Gulf jobs for their sustenance and clearing off previous loans and debts.

Owing to the lack of alternative livelihood opportunities and a supportive reintegration and rehabilitation policy, many returnees, especially between 20 and 45 years age group, are left with no option other than to re-migrate to the Gulf. But, it is more difficult and expensive to re-migrate now due to the long waiting period for Covid-19 vaccines in India, ever-changing entry rules and travel bans in the Gulf, and uncertainty and diffidence around finding new employment or joining back in the earlier Gulf job.

Indian expatriates, including the Telugu people, are taking various transit routes via Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Armenia and Uzbekistan to enter the UAE, Saudi, Oman, and Kuwait as direct entry is barred to these countries. They spend around  Rs 1.5 lakh for these journeys, booking chartered flights, 14-day quarantine in transit countries and PCR tests before entering the final destination. Desperate to get back to the Gulf, these migrants take bank loans or borrow money from private lenders, further falling deep into the debt trap.  

Deceptive Agents, Issue of Trafficking

Even though the bona fide channel of migrating abroad for work is through recruitment agencies licensed by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), many approach or are approached by fraudulent agents to facilitate an easy path to the Gulf. The existence of only fewer than 25 registered agencies in the entire State of Telangana makes running an illicit recruiting and travel agency lucrative. The State government established the Telangana Overseas Manpower Company Ltd (TOMCOM) in 2016 to ensure safe, legal migration.

However, taking advantage of high demand from the unemployed and circumstances of those who wish to migrate, the nexus of fraudulent recruiting agents continue to thrive, bypassing all valid emigration procedures. They often dupe job seekers with visit visas or the notorious “free visas” instead of proper employment visas and “push” them through emigration procedures at the source and destinations.

The recent news reports of Telugu women trafficked by promising “high-paying” domestic worker and caregiving jobs in Arab households encapsulate the issue’s gravity. Widespread irregular practices exclude migrants from the official databases and make them susceptible to exploitation and abuse by recruiters, sponsors and/or employers. Their dubious immigration status and lack of proper documents also make it hard for the destination countries’ labour courts to issue legal directions and the Indian government to assist them if they land in any trouble.

Proactive Approaches

Emigration is not often a joyous affair, even though most people migrate voluntarily to the Gulf land of plenty to materialise their dreams of becoming rich, buying land, building secure houses, and saving money for a better future for their family and children. It is necessary to equip and empower them to deal with the complications that may arise at all stages of migration.

Pre-departure orientation and skill training needs to be vigorously imparted to all aspirant migrants to provide them better bargaining power in the destinations, along with a detailed awareness programme on the available Centre and State-level welfare schemes. Likewise, empowering them digitally will equip them to resort to various government portals, like the MADAD, for grievance redressal and verification of the credibility of their visas.

Existing public mechanisms, including the Telangana State Skill Development Mission (TSSDM), National Academy of Construction (NAC) and Industrial Training Institutes (ITI), need to be roped in effectively for skilling and skill upgradation training for aspiring migrants to meet the latest labour and technology adaptation demands. The Institute of Driving Training and Research Centre (IDTRC) in Sircilla is a laudable initiative, which too can be roped in.

Similarly, those who have returned during the pandemic should be directed to register themselves with the SWADES portal of the government  of India to find job opportunities in Indian and foreign companies. There should be policies to incentivise returnees above the age of 50 to start micro, small and medium (MSME) businesses to better utilise their savings, skills, international exposure and experiences.

Migration related awareness creation should be TOMCOM’s top priority of the, along with skill development, training, and overseas recruitment. Operations of unregistered recruitment agencies need to be curbed to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration from the State. Migrant-specific welfare schemes that include migrant families and returnees to its fold need to be initiated at the Centre and State levels.

The scope of some of the existing schemes can be extended, for instance, the Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana, the emigrants’ insurance scheme launched in 2003, to cover deaths by diseases. There also needs to be a special fast-track arrangement in the State for the Gulf migrants to get Covid-19 vaccines to head back when the travel bans are lifted.

Emigration Bill, 2021

The proposed Draft Emigration Bill, 2021, requires further deliberations before passing to ground it on the realities and diversities of emigration of Indians abroad as well as their return and reintegration. Limited availability of data and the discrepancy of available statistics are major stumbling blocks in formulating evidence-based policies and their effective implementation. Hence, creating a consolidated database on migrants and returnees should be the priority of Central and State governments.

For instance, eMigrate initiative of the MEA records only 15 unregistered recruitment agencies in Telangana, which is a gross underestimation. A comparative understanding of best practices and the emigrant welfare programmes implemented by different States governments can be mutually beneficial, and the Telangana government should take formal initiatives and establish permanent bodies in institutionalising such exchanges between other State governments and their agencies like the NORKA in Kerala.

Indian embassies in the Gulf region need to be strengthened to ensure proactive interventions when our expatriates are in need, like providing legal aid or pro-bono lawyers for “wage theft” cases and filing claims on behalf of returned migrants in the Gulf labour courts. Likewise, considering the migrant numbers, initiatives to set up more consulates of the Gulf countries in different parts of the Telangana region can promptly address the issues faced by the migrants in the destination.

The crucial role of civil society and grassroots level organisations based in Telangana and the Gulf for the welfare of emigrants in normal and emergency situations should not be missed. Their advocacy prompted the MEA to roll back its recent circulars on minimum referral wage (MRW) reduction.

The Sircilla-based Telangana Gulf Joint Action Committee, Hyderabad-based Emigrants Welfare Forum, Gulf Telangana Welfare and Cultural Association, Pravasi Mitra Labour Union, and the Dubai-based Indian People’s Forum are a few to mention. The proactive intervention of KT Rama Rao, Minister of IT & NRI Affairs, and KR Suresh Reddy, MP from Telangana, is worth mentioning in the MRW issue.

Bheem Reddy Mandha, president of the Emigrants Welfare Forum, says, “Telangana migrants in the Gulf are sending about Rs 27,000 crore per annum as remittances, and it is, directly and indirectly, boosting the economy. The government should reciprocate by allocating Rs 500 crore in the annual Budget for the welfare of Gulf migrants and their left-behind families”. We should listen to our migrants and their needs, as it is our responsibility as a progressive society to extend solidarity to them during these testing times. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍‍Why Medical Device Industry Beckons Investors In Telangana?

Despite the pandemic, many global med-tech companies brought COVID-specific product designs and specifications from the US to India to collaborate with Telangana manufacturers. The Telangana medical devices market is expected to grow from USD 11 billon to nearly USD 50 billion by 2025.

There is no doubt that Covid-19 has had severe implications on almost all sectors of the economy including the medical device industry. Although there was an all-round and immediate stimulus provided for Covid-related medical devices, the sector as a whole had to face loss of sales and revenue, at least for some duration.

According to the Medical Technology Association of India, because of Covid-induced de-prioritization and decline in elective surgical procedures and treatments, there was a 50 to 85 per cent fall in revenue during April-June quarter last year. The overwhelming disruption triggered by the pandemic had not only led to supply chain snags, but the increased cost of freight movement further hurt the industry. Given the Telangana manufacturers’ dependency on foreign components, this was a particularly critical factor.

However, notwithstanding these challenges, from the standpoint of investment, the Telangana medical device industry has remained vibrant and conducive to both foreign and domestic investment even during this period.

Although it may seem counter-intuitive, the fact that foreign investment in the sector shot up by 98 per cent y-o-y in 2020, almost doubling in the year of the pandemic as compared to the previous year attests to the long-term robustness of the Indian medical device sector and the confidence that foreign players repose in the domestic economy.

In fact, in the last five years (2015-2020), the country has received USD 600 million with major investments coming from Singapore, United States, Japan and Europe. And among medical device categories that most attracted these investments have been equipment, instruments, consumables and implants.

In May last year, when the sector was navigating through the first phase of rough Covid waters, Japanese investors had displayed interest in setting up a manufacturing base for in vitro diagnostic device (IVD) and medical electronics in the country during their discussions with Association of Manufacturers of Medical Devices Of Telangana (AMeDT).

In fact, as part of the initiative, Telangana is eyeing 200 joint ventures with foreign investors for nearly USD 2 billion and above as well as with 50 MNCs for the same amount, apart from looking to forge 1200 technical collaborations with Telangana investors for nearly USD 5.7 billion. Similarly, a number of global med-tech companies did bring COVID-specific product designs and specifications from the US into India to collaborate with Telangana manufacturers.

And this confidence stems from the fact that the regulatory environment for medical devices sector in recent years has continued to evolve as more appealing and investor-friendly. Back in 2014, the government had recognized this sector as a sunrise sector under the Make-in-India campaign.

With the aim of encouraging all possible investment, the rules have allowed up to 100 per cent investments for both Greenfield and brownfield through automatic route into this sector.

Then in 2017, the Medical Devices Rules aligned the country’s regulatory structure with Global Harmonization Task Force (GHTF) guidelines stipulating a four-way risk-based classification of medical devices while also granting perpetual license to a manufacturer subject to fresh application and retention every five years.

From the foreign manufacturers’ standpoint, the 2017 rules did away with the erstwhile need for registration and now the appointment of a local authorized agent could facilitate imports into the country. Further, under the Medical Device Amendment Rules 2020 laying down mandatory registration with appropriate authority with different timelines for each class of equipment not only infuses transparency but also firms up quality assurance of the products.

In terms of the latter, the requirement for obtaining ISO 13485 certification further inspires confidence in the Indian medical device sector. Administratively speaking, the government established the National Medical Devices Promotion Council in 2018 with a view to further streamline and give directions to the domestic medical device sector.

Of course, this has to be evaluated against the increasingly unfavourable investment climate in other countries such as China in terms of raw material and labour costs, unfavourable trade policy, IP protection issues, low level of domestic technological base etc.

Foreign investor would do well to remember that the Atmanirbhar Bharat programme driving the self-sufficiency crusade of the government is not antithetical to foreign investment and holds tremendous opportunities for the latter.

From ever-increasing investment in medical device parks and clustering projects with the view to develop world class infrastructure and testing facilities to the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme allowing incentives on incremental sales on certain categories of medical devices, each of these offer prospects wherein foreign investors can also participate and reap dividends in the long term.

That the Indian Ambassador to the US cited the PLI scheme as one segment, among others, where US investors could contemplate investing demonstrates that India is actively seeking FDI into these domestic make-in-India programmes.

Furthermore, with med-tech and medical device startups making their presence felt along with several businesses reinventing themselves to manufacture Covid-related supplies in the last one year, this is another space where foreign investors can participate and indeed they have participated.

Along with telemedicine serving as one critical element driving the ‘healthcare revolution’ in the country, several new home-grown medical technology/device startups leveraging new-age technologies such as 3D printing, AI, smart sensors and robotics making hi-tech contactless health devices and many others – have attracted considerable amount of funds as foreign investment (and domestic investment) into their companies over the last one year or so. At present, there are an estimated 4000 health-tech startups operating in the country.

In all, the spirit of entrepreneurship displayed by Indian companies in recent times coupled with a proactive government making unprecedentedly high allocation to healthcare with its positive spill over effects for the medical device industry, spells a very bright future for this sunrise sector.

Investors, both foreign and domestic must not let go of this opportunity. Remember the Indian medical devices market is set to grow from USD 11 billon to nearly USD 50 billion by 2025. #KhabarLive #hydnews

Coronavirus Given Indian ‘Foodies’ Chance To Become Genuine ‘Food Lovers’

By Ahssanuddin Haseeb

The pandemic has bared the vulnerability of our food sources. This is one of our best shots to hit reset on what and how we eat.

Food is our most frequently indulged pleasure. Yet what’s on the plate goes beyond taste and texture. It’s about politics and culture. It’s about supply chains and climate change. It’s about nutrition and health outcomes. It’s about the working conditions and living standards of farmers. Sure, it’s about trendy pop-ups and exciting food trucks. But it’s also about crop-destroying cyclones and locust swarms.

#KhanaKhazana: 'How Corona Era Snatched My Joy Of Home-Delivered Food?'

By Asma Khatoon

Cooking is an essential life skill, never quite cut through to me before these few months. It was almost as if another life began for me during the Corona lockdown.

The virus came into my life on a March afternoon. Wrapped in an app alert, it reached the gates of my adjacent society. The RWA (Residents Welfare Association) of mine sprung into action. The first casualties of this pandemic were those delivery boys. The gates of my society were locked. We were told only essentials will be delivered. But for a person whose kitchen has never seen more cooking than bread being toasted, what does that word 'essential' even mean? I found out, with a heavy heart, that it did not involve takeaway food.

Takeaway food, that came riding pillion on a bike and was delivered with the occasional smile, had come to be my sustenance in this big city. Zomato, Uber Eats, Swiggy, Foodpanda. The delivery apps were many. They all had one thing in common: the gift of choice. Cuisines, dishes, so much to choose from.

Why Indians Need Separate, Specific Medical Insurance For Mental Illness?

Insurance providers are reluctant to cover mental illnesses because of the duration and costs of treatment as well as stigma attached to mental disorders.

A doctor at Kashmir's psychiatry hospital in Srinagar, checks the hands of a Kashmiri youth during a counseling session.

Your Tandoori Chicken Could Be Making You Resistant To Antibiotics

67% of the poultry farms tested used antimicrobials as growth boosters—despite a government ban.

I'm a vegetarian, but most of my friends and family love chicken, which means that I've tagged along with them to buy chicken over the years (not my favourite activity). One thing I've noticed is that the chickens today seem much larger than the ones people bought when I was a kid.

Health Alert: Your Protein Shake Could Be Harming Your Fitness

Fake supplements dominate the market. When my father first started working out and weight training he did so at home. I used to sit on the couch and laugh (not something I'm proud of). He would then challenge me to do an exercise and I would be able to do it quite easily. I would then promptly go back to the couch. Then I went to college in Kochi, and while I was there, he continued to work out and even joined a gym.

Are Ganesh Mandals In Maharashtra Behind A Nationwide Dilution Of Noise Pollution Norms?

Festival organisers are cheering as the state has said that after the August 10 amendment of the rules, there are no silence zones.

In the run-up to the 10-day Ganesh festival that begins on Friday, Ganpati mandals (festival organisers) in Maharashtra are feeling triumphant. On Wednesday (August 16), during a hearing in the Bombay High Court of a batch of petitions against the violation of noise pollution norms, the state government informed the bench that Maharashtra has no silence zones anymore.

The Centre's 'City Liveability Index' Is Set To Become A Major Tracker Of Urban Indian Life

News that no Indian city made it anywhere close to the top of the latest list of most liveable cities in the world gets routinely buried in the inside pages of most newspapers. On the Internet too, such news does not figure high on the home pages of search engines, a sure way for the report getting buried somewhere deep in the cyber abyss.

India’s Doctors Weigh In: People In Pain Need More Morphine, Not Medical Marijuana

Women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi suggested legalising marijuana for medical purposes at a meeting of a group of ministers examining the draft cabinet note on the National Policy for Drug Demand Reduction earlier this last week. However, several doctors working in palliative care say that they would rather see the government ensure a better supply of opioid drugs, the medical use of which is already permitted.

Analysis: Why The Farmers' Protests Could Be The Beginning Of A Turning Point For The BJP?

The ongoing farmers' protests in several states across India's geographical diversity is the first major non-sectarian mass movement confronting the Narendra Modi government. Unless handled adroitly, the stir has the potential to throw up a major challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party and Modi's political dominance.

Speciasl Report: Inside The Surreal Battle For Mind Control Playing Out In Rajasthan's Classrooms

From history to politics to math, text books are throwing caution to the wind, as teachers grow divided.

For someone who is courageously speaking truth to power, 51-year-old Mahavir Sihag is exceedingly soft spoken. On occasion, you have to remind him to speak louder, so that you can hear.

Are Expiration Dates On Medicines Just A Myth?

If some drugs remain effective well beyond the date on their labels, why hasn’t there been a push to extend their expiration dates?

The box of prescription drugs had been forgotten in a back closet of a retail pharmacy for so long that some of the pills predated the 1969 moon landing. Most were 30 to 40 years past their expiration dates – possibly toxic, probably worthless.

Why It’s Unfair To Ban Commercial Surrogacy?

Altruistic surrogacy alone will deprive many would-be parents of options. Earlier last month, a couple in our family successfully got custody of their newborn through surrogacy. Filled with emotional highs and lows, the past nine months left the parents-to-be disillusioned about the prevailing surrogacy practices. 

Following a successful embryo transfer, the surrogate, after receiving a hefty advance payment, went underground despite the formal facilitation of the process by a reputed gynaecologist. She appeared only a month after delivery to hand over the parents' prized possession. The blessed parents swiftly forgot their misery as soon as all the paperwork was completed and they received their little bundle of joy in their hands. After all, their dream of having their biological child had finally come true.

Genetic Isolation in Casteist India Could Could Render Some People More Vulnerable to Disease

There is reduced genetic variation among the people of some subpopulations because they have been genetically isolated due to various factors – such as caste.

The occurrence of genetic diseases in certain subpopulations in India and other countries in South Asia is well known. Indian scientists now suspect that this could be due to genetic isolation caused by endogamous marriages over generations.

'The Future Of Family Planning Now Goes Digital'

One of India’s most vocal advocates for youth rights to sexual health, Franklin Paul, has been introducing digital technologies to the rural youth.

Online shopping may have its pros and cons, but when it comes to buying products that have an invisible morality tag, it’s the safest possible option, believes Franklin Paul.

One of India’s most vocal advocates for youth rights to sexual health, education and products, Paul has spent over two years studying and introducing digital technologies to India’s rural youths.

‘Trumpcare’ Is Dangerous to the American Healthcare System

Congressional efforts to do away with Obamacare threatens leaving millions of Americans without any health insurance.

The American healthcare system is in danger. The Senate’s new Bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), released in June, is an effort by the Republican Party to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or ‘Obamacare,’ put forward by the Barack Obama administration.

Doctors find 150 PINS lodged in Indian man's body, including his artery and wind pipe - but the man says he has no idea how they got there!

Badrilal Meena has so far had 91 pins removed from his body by doctors in India - including from his wind pipe and esophagus (pictured). He's had to undergo three different surgeries.

A man has baffled doctors after being found with dozens of pins lodged throughout his body - and no idea how they got there.

Badrilal Meena has had to visit six hospitals and undergone three surgeries to extract the shards which had become lodged in his arms, feet and neck.