Social sector

Five people have died and three others are infected with the Marburg virus  in Tanzania. Marburg virus disease (MVD), earlier known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal hemorrhagic fever. Marburg, like Ebola, is a filovirus and both diseases are clinically similar. Rousettus fruit bats are considered the natural hosts for the Marburg virus. However, African green …

More than three years after the pandemic began, newer variants, an uptick in cases, hospitalisations, and even deaths are being reported from across the world, though a far cry from the earlier alarming levels. After Kappa, Delta, BA.2.75, and BA.2.76, the latest variant (first detected in India) is the Omicron …

India decriminalised homosexuality in 2018, while in 2017 the Supreme Court had recognised sexual orientation as protected under right to privacy. However, because financial and social security benefits are only accorded to those who have the legal sanction of a marriage, same-sex couples have trouble accessing some basic relationship rights. …

Darshan Solanki, an undergraduate student of chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, ended his life on February 12, 2023. He was a Dalit. The institute formed a 12-member committee to conduct an investigation, which submitted its report on March 2. The report said, “It appears from …

India is now one of the fastest-growing economies globally. However, this growth has not resulted in a corresponding increase in its Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI is a composite statistical measure created by the United Nations Development Programme to evaluate and compare the level of human development in different …

The study is part of a long-term project called the ‘Consortium on Vulnerability to Externalising Disorders and Addictions’ (C-Veda). It aims to follow up those tested over decades, and evaluate the effect of biological and environmental risk on cognitive development. Brain development progresses from childhood to early adulthood with wide-ranging …

Tamil Nadu has pioneered an initiative across the State to reduce the mortality rate among people with tuberculosis. The initiative — TN-KET (Tamil Nadu Kasanoi Erappila Thittam, meaning TB death-free project) — which began in April 2022 in 2,500-odd public healthcare facilities that diagnosed TB in 30 districts, has already …

herSTART platform to encourage women entrepreneurs inaugurated recently The ‘herSTART’ platform will boost innovation and start-up efforts of women entrepreneurs and also help them connect with various government and private enterprises. The platform will include: a digital platform to provide resources and training modules free of cost to aspiring women entrepreneurs, a digital community for them, and a digital publication to spread their …

Members of the transgender community, moved the Supreme Court seeking to strike down the prohibition on gay and transgender people donating blood in the country. The Centre justified their exclusion by asserting that their inclusion in the “at-risk” category for HIV, Hepatitis B, or C infections is premised on scientific evidence. The ban on blood donations by gay people …

In a park, a group of three-year-old children are playing together, with their mothers watching. One toddler, Arun, is off to the side, looking up at the trees and squinting at the light. His mother calls several times but he does not respond. He doesn’t seem interested in the other …