Social Issues

Wary of a rise in number of COVID-19 cases, the government has made negative RT-PCR reports a mandatory requirement for air travellers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand. In its latest guidelines for international travellers, the Health and Family Welfare Ministry has said a pre-departure test conducted …

Despite a year-long mission-mode recruitment drive to hire faculty for reserved category positions at the elite Indian Institutes of Technology and Central universities, just over 30% of identified vacancies were filled, the Education Ministry told Parliament this week. In the year to September 5, 2022, 23 IITs and 45 Central …

The subject of the spiralling costs of cancer medicines and their implications that have frequently been highlighted the world over were dwelled on in a recent report (“Cancer Care Plan and Management”) by the Rajya Sabha’s Standing Committee on Health (bit.ly/3jfmxLG). Alluding to the implications of the high cost of …

The Union government has not conducted any survey nor is it considering a proposal to conduct one to identify the number of beneficiaries entitled to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) reservation, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said in response to a question from Sajda Ahmed of the Trinamool …

Breast cancer, by the government’s estimate, is the leading cause of cancer in women in India. However, it does not qualify as a matter of “national” or “extreme” urgency in the Health Ministry’s reckoning, suggest court filings as part of an ongoing case in the Kerala High Court. The case …

A study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 36 countries found that two-thirds of sexually active women who wished to delay or limit childbearing stopped using contraception for the fear of side effects, health concerns and underestimation of the likelihood of conception. This led to one in four …

The Centre has proposed a new draft Code on Social Security that amalgamates eight laws — covering Employees’ Provident Fund, maternity benefits and compensation among others — that makes way for establishing funds for PF and pension as well as covering workers of the gig economy in social security schemes. …

Situation is the most bleak in low-income countries, saysLancetreport “Oral diseases present a major global public health burden, affecting 3.5 billion people worldwide, yet oral health has been largely ignored by the global health community,” noted a new Lancet Series on Oral Health . The report warns that with a …

The Supreme Court declined urgent hearing on a plea seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against some states for their alleged failure in curbing lynching incidents. It did not allow the submission of a lawyer that the judgements, laying down guidelines to deal with lynching and cow vigilantism incidents in the …

Stipulates stringent fines if parents do not follow the directives, says education is more important In a regressive step, Gujarat’s Thakor community unanimously passed a fiat directing parents to discourage their daughters from having mobile phones and inter-caste marriages. If found with phones, the parents can be fined up to …