Political and Social Issues:

Madhya Pradesh government's efforts to ban cow slaughter and conserve the “cow progeny” have received a shot in the arm following Presidential assent to the long-pending Madhya Pradesh prohibition of slaughter of cow-progeny (amendment) bill.
A person found guilty of cow slaughter would be liable for 7 years imprisonment, instead of the present 3 years, besides a minimum fine of Rs. 5000.
The amended Act provides that no person “shall slaughter” or “cause to slaughter” or “offer for slaughter” any cow progeny by any means.
Besides, no person, including a transporter, shall transport or offer to transport or cause to be transported any cow progeny, either by himself or through an agent, servant or any other person acting on his behalf, within the State or outside it, with the knowledge that the calf would be or was likely to be slaughtered.

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen on Monday called for “a more forceful discouragement” of smoking by the government, pointing out that the State did bear the cost of the diseases that resulted from the habit.
Smoking influences the lives of others. Not just forcing proximate people to passive-smoking, but also through the medical cost of treatment of diseases that tend to result from smoking such as cancer.
Cancer has often been seen as a disease that is particularly important in the rich countries. In India, the focus has traditionally been on the types of medical adversities that kill with abandon on a regular basis across the country, from cardiovascular and diarrhoeal diseases to respiratory infections