50% tuberculosis deaths are due to smoking: study
New Delhi: In India, smoking causes about half of all deaths due to tuberculosis or other respiratory diseases in males. Numerically every year 200,000 people die from tuberculosis on account of tobacco consumption. A third of the deaths caused by smoking are from vascular diseases. Smo-kers are about four times more likely to die from tuberculosis as non-smokers. About one in four of all persistent smokers in India is killed by tobacco consumption at ages 25-69. The risk is substantial for both cigarette and bidi consumption. Smo-king increases the risk of tuberculosis infection causing clinical tuberculosis, which can kill. These are some of the conclusions of a new study, which was published in the recent issue of The Lancet. The study was led by Dr Vendhan Gajalakshmi and Dr Thanjavur Santhanakrishna Kanaka of Epidemiological Research Centre in Chennai. Professor Richard Peto from the Unive-rsity of Oxford, UK, and Dr Prabhat Jha from the University of Toronto, Canada, were co-investigators. UK Medical Rese-arch Council and Cancer Research UK were the main funding agencies. The WHO and the World Bank provided the additional support.
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Assocham sees only short-term recovery
New Delhi: The current economic recovery might be sustained only for a short period as none of the upturns in industrial production have been led by any major structural reforms, according to the Assocham. In a paper ‘Have the dog days ended for Indian industry?’, Assocham is of the opinion that recoveries have been led by either agricultural cycles or as in the case of recent recovery, by policy-induced boost to construction (highway and the housing programme) and pick up in external demand. According to the Chamber, the concern is that while capacity utilisation is improving, investment is not. Thus, the absence of strong investment spending is something to worry about. Without a recovery in investment, the industrial turnaround would be hard to sustain and the result might well be higher inflation, Assocham said in a release. It is dismaying to note in this context that the budget did little to create a better climate for investment. Reforms have also slowed down and therefore structural rigidities of the economy (be it labour laws, the domestic tax structure or fiscal indiscipline) are all acting as dampeners.
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