vulnerable population with TB infection, who are at an increased risk of progressing to active TB disease. 70-80% of TB patients first visit the private sector, where the diagnostic and treatment services of TB are suboptimal and need to be improved. History India's response to TB has changed with time and with the increasing sophistication of technology. Responses to TB have evolved, from pre-independence through post-independence to the current WHO-assisted period. The first national study of tuberculosis was carried out by Arthur Lankester in 1914. Following Independence, the Indian government established various regional and national TB reduction programmes. The Indian government's Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) started in India during 1997. The program used the WHO-recommended Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) strategy to develop ideas and data on TB treatment. This group's initial objective was to achieve and maintain a TB treatment success rate of at least 85% in India among new patients. “In 2010 the RNTCP made a major policy decision that it would change focus and adopt the concept of Universal Access to quality diagnosis and TB treatment for all TB patients”. By doing so, they offered a helping hand to all people diagnosed with TB, by providing better quality services and improvement in therapy for these patients. The contemporary response to TB includes India's participation and leadership in global TB reduction and elimination programs. Treatment recommendations from Udwadia, et al. suggest that patients with TDR-TB only be treated “within the confines of government-sanctioned DOTS-Plus Programs to prevent the emergence of this untreatable form of tuberculosis”. Given this conclusion by Udawadai, et al., it is considered certain, as of 2012, that the new Indian government program will insist on providing drugs free of charge to TB patients of India, for the first time ever. Society and culture Organizations The Tuberculosis Association of India is a voluntary organization that was set up in February 1939. It is affiliated to the government of India and is working with the TB Delhi center. Laboratories The Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) has established a network of laboratories where TB tests can be done for purposes of diagnosis and to determine whether a person has drug-resistant TB. The laboratory system comprises the National Reference Laboratories (NRLs), state level Intermediate Reference Laboratories (IRLs), Culture & Drug Susceptibility Testing (C & DST) laboratories and Designated Microscopy Centres (DMCs). Some private laboratories are