Hot water; hotter tempers
On April 10, a hot sunny day, Chennai’s Chepauk stadium became a fortress. Yellow barricades, armed policemen and security vans surrounded the venue. The Indian Premier League was in town, and the Chennai
Week (Kochi)
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Obstacle course
India was on the verge of medical revolution when ICMR announced an injectible male contraceptive early this year. First of its kind, it was said to have several advantages over conventional
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HIV aware bazar
Maharashtra village makes premarital AIDS test mandatory; the youth agree. "Western Maharashtra, in particular has seen an increase in the number of people infected with the AIDS virus," says
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Flight from the nest
The people of Mahboobnagar district, Andhra Pradesh have become so inured to starvation deaths that two more did not raise an eyebrow. When officials confirmed that two women died of starvation in
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Disturbing do(ub) ts
When the Union ministry of health and family welfare claims that the new Directly Observable Treatment Short Course is the best for tuberculosis in India, something is lost in the fine print: that
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The theatre of the absurd
Primary health centres across UP use crude methods to do laparoscopy. Welcome to Sadhauli Kadeem block in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The primary health centre here is proud of its staff's
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Hardly hardy
Biotechnology poses a huge challenge to Indian agriculture and has long term implications. Shivaji Ghate of Maharashtra's Jalna district has always taken pride in the fact that he is a progressive
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The unknown virus
A strange disease is snuffing out the lives of children in several parts of western Uttar Pradesh. The villagers and health authorities have no idea what it is. The government says 46 children died
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Touch wood
Four years ago E.G. Sadanandan and fellow poachers made their money plundering the Periyar forest in Idukki district of Kerala. They still live by the forest, but with the backing of forest
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Hugging trees
A group of village women gave us the greatest lessons in environmental conservation. When a whisper becomes a shout, change is inevitable. The Chipko movement is one such shout. An agitation of rural
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Early and easy
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland, USA, have developed a new cancer detection method using body fluids. The test looks for DNA mutations that signal cancer of