STRESS, frustration, rising blood pressure and breathing problems are common in motorists who spend hours in traffic jams. Now scientists have found another health consequence of traffic snarls— diabetes. Scientists from German Diabetes Centre and the Institute for Environmental Medical Research at Heinrich Heine University, Germany, claim traffic-related air pollution …
Tango with nature India has been using lakes, ponds and baolis (step wells) since ancient times ('What monsoon means', July 16-31, 2010). Delhi was once replete with water bodies. In the past 50 years, government agencies started disbanding natural ponds, lakes and baolis, declaring their water untested, and therefore, unfit …
"I want to make a film about the unequal wages women peasants get compared to their male counterparts," 40-something Haseena Mallah said. Mallah was one of the nine women who attended a two-week filmmaking workshop in Karachi, Pakistan. At the end of the workshop the women made Half Face, an …
The Union health ministry launched a Rs 150-crore scheme last month to promote menstrual health among rural adolescent girls. Unavailability and high costs of sanitary napkins deter menstrual hygiene in rural India. The scheme aims to provide one pack of six sanitary napkins at Re 1 to girls in the …
Pune Maharastra still figures among states that show a high prevalence of malnutrition and it is the slum areas in urban pockets that have an increasing incidence, said a report on the nutritional crisis in Maharashtra. The report also observed that not only are half the women anaemic in the …
Maharashtra is the first state in India to formulate a women policy in 1994, which was subsequently revised in 2001. This policy provides for participation, protection, economic development, capacity building and creation of a supportive environment for women. Recognising the spirit of this policy, many development projects and programmes in …
Biopreservation of perishable vegetables is a native skill of Northeast Indian women. Lactic acid fermentation is the actual mechanism involve in the biopreservation process of perishable vegetable and bamboo shoots. Some ethnic fermented vegetables of Northeast India are gundruk, sinki, goyang, inziangsang, khalpi, anishi, etc. and ethnic fermented bamboo shoot …
The Thengal-Kacharis, belonging to the Boro-Kachari ethnic groups are one of the most ancient inhabitants of Assam with rich tradition and cultural history. The bari or homestead gardening has had great significance from the point of conservation, consumption and management of biodiversity. Women of this community have played a key …
The three rounds of the National Family Health Survey have generated vast amounts of data, which unfortunately have been subject to only limited critical examination by Indian research scholars, though the opposite is the case with scholars outside India. The nfhs-3, which was conducted in 2005-06, covered many more areas …
In Nepal, development projects often focus on policy issues such as rights-based approaches, with less emphasis on livelihoods. The impact on the poor of such an approach is often not immediately visible. This article describes how an NGO helps rural households to start home gardening, independent from local landlords or …
More women are dying from cancer than men in Punjab. This is contrary to the global trend where more men die from cancer than women. This is the finding of a study by Bajinder Pal Singh in a recently concluded project, "Cancer deaths in agricultural heartland: a study in Malwa …
Ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynaecological neoplasms, especially in industrialised countries. Some environmental exposures, notably talc and asbestos, have been suspected as ovarian carcinogens. April 2008
A dietary survey was carried out during summer and winter seasons on 20-40 years old subjects i.e. 23 and 49 women from sewage and tube well irrigated areas, respectively around Ludhiana city (Punjab, India). Raw food samples from both the areas were analyzed for various minerals. Mineral intake by individual …
As many as 42,000 women from rural areas in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have learned to read and write. According to the World Bank Development Policy Review 2003, over one third of Indians above sseven years of age are illiterate. This rounds up to over …
At 35, when Harpyari first held a pen and wrote her name it was a child-like scrawl. However, with it, she etched a lasting story of empowerment. Married at age five and unschooled, Harpyari now helps her own children with their homework. Harpyari is the end product of a non-governmental …
DELHI Migrants might be causing uproar in some parts of the country but photo-journalist Harish Tyagi sees their lives in an entirely different light through his lense. In an exhibition titled Distress Migration and its Effect on Children, Tyagi's pictures tell an often-sor
The prevalence of anaemia among adolescent girls has been reduced from 52.4 per cent in 2004 to 43.5 per cent in 2007, revealed the Helen Keller International at a seminar on Monday. Helen Keller International and the National Nutrition Programme of the government on Monday organised a seminar on
This article presents results on the participation of rural workers in the National Rural Employment Guarantee programme based on a pilot survey of three villages in Udaipur district in Rajasthan. Its focus is on participation in the NREG programme of different socio-economic groups and the determinants of the participation of …
Women are in the workplace like never before but they are still more vulnerable than men to unemployment and low-paid jobs, the International Labour Organisation said Friday. In a report presented one day before International Women's Day on March 8, the ILO said women are more likely to be stuck …
