On a day when the Supreme Court directed the Union and State governments to provide basic infrastructure, including drinking water and toilets, in all schools within six months, a survey conducted among parents (low-income group) in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore said that “toilets remain the single-most commonly voiced concern for girl students and their parents across India among the lower-income group.”

The secondary data of survey added that only 44 per cent schools covered by the Right to Education Act have separate, functioning girls’ toilets. In the rest, girls either need to risk embarrassment and run to nearby fields, or run back home to use the toilet.

The All-India Chemists and Distributors’ Federation has expressed displeasure at the method proposed by the Group of Ministers to fix the cost of 348 drugs that have recently been brought under the National List of Essential Medicines.

AICDF president Kailash Gupta said: “The method recommended by the GOM in fixing the cost of these medicines is based on the average of market price of best selling brands which we feel is totally wrong.’’

Unspent funds declared by several State governments across the country released under the Central Government’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Schemes has now prompted the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development to consider sanctioning funds directly to non-government organisations working in the States.

Ministry secretary Prem Narain said: “ICDS is one of our flagship programmes and the Ministry is working at ensuring that the targeted audience are able to benefit from its restructuring that we are undertaking.”

Notification banning manufacture, sale, transportation & storage to be issued today

The Delhi Government has decided to impose a complete ban on manufacture, sale, display, transportation and storage of gutka and other related products in the city. Health Minister A. K. Walia said on Monday that the decision was taken at a high-level meeting at Delhi Secretariat and a notification to this effect will be issued on Tuesday. “Gutka and other products contain paan masala, nicotine and tobacco particles, hence are harmful.

Centre to soon launch website offering health solutions

If nutrition experts have left you confused about what to eat, how much to eat and when to eat, the Union Ministry of Women & Child Development’s soon-to-be-launched website might be your one-stop solution. All set to launch a nutrition platform on September 7, this interactive website will offer a knowledge bank, library and e-forum to those in the business of nutrition and the ones interested in eating right to stay healthy.

Months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called malnourishment among children a national shame, the Union Ministry of Women & Child Development (WCD) has now written to the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories asking them to get “serious about fighting malnourishment especially among the children and women”.

WCD secretary Prem Narain said: “We have issued written instructions on Tuesday to all senior officials concerned and various Ministries to ensure that they contribute positively in the fight against this great challenge that the country faces today.

‘We have brought in stringent laws to check smoking in public places’

Members of various non-government organisations working in the area of tobacco control have demanded that Delhi too join the various States across the country and ban gutka/smokless tobacco products sale in the Capital which will have a direct health benefit for over 10 lakh gutka users specially youngsters. Voluntary Health Association of India executive director Bhavna Mukhopadhyay said: “We have met with the Delhi Chief Minister on Monday and asked her to consider the ban.

Non-availability of female teachers, absence of safe drinking water, poor maintenance of sanitation facilities and low awareness is what keeps the young girls in the educationally backward and Muslim-dominated Mewat district of Haryana away from schools, a recently conducted study commissioned as part of the National Women Empowerment Mission, under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, has found.

“At this rate, the Capital will be gasping for breath by 2021”

Delhi's air quality is worsening and if urgent action is not taken we will have a serious problem at hand, warns Centre for Science and Environment's latest report card. “The summer of 2012 is a grim reminder of the severe and worsening multi-pollutant crisis. CSE's analysis of the official air quality data shows that ozone, the new predator in town, has exceeded standards on all days in May and most days in April this year in areas including Civil Lines and the airport and on 80 per cent days in residential colonies including R. K. Puram,” notes the report.

Asked to shape up or face de-recognition of the Deer Park at Hauz Khas by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) this March, the Delhi Development Authority has in its reply on Monday defended its work at the park stating that remedial work has already been initiated there.

The CZA had issued a notice to the DDA in March stating that there were a number of shortcomings in the park, including hygiene, which needed urgent attention. It also cautioned them about over-population in the small park area, which the CZA noted was the main and a very serious issue.