• Key Facts

• Farmers' suicides

• Rural distress

• Debt Trap

• Unemployment

• Migration

• GENDER

• Displacement

• Right to Food  

• Right to Work (MG-NREGA)

• Social Audit

• Right to Information

• Right to Education

• Forest and Tribal Rights

• Policy/ Action so far

• Poverty and inequality

• Hunger Overview

• Malnutrition

• HDI Overview

• Education  

• Public Health

• Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS)

• PDS/ Ration/ Food Security  

• MDGs

• Water and Sanitation

• Impact on Agriculture

• Time Bomb Ticking

• Social Justice

• Access to Justice

• Human Rights

• Corruption

• General Insecurity

• Disaster & Relief

Urban PHCs to work from noon till night -Aarti Dhar

-The Hindu     Aim is to help urban poor go to Health facilities after working hours To help urban poor go to Health facilities after working hours, urban primary Health centres, planned under the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM), will function from noon to 8 p.m. Out-patient departm

RTI brings to light drug trial on humans -Syed Intishab Ali

An RTI filed by a government-run Indore hospital Dr Anand Rai exposed deaths leading to drug trials in entire country. Answering to the RTI, office ofdrug controller general, ministry of family Health and welfare, gave a list of deaths to the appellant that happened during clinical trials. Exposing that 40 patients died from 2008 to 2011 during clinical trials in Rajasthan, drug controller office report shows that only eight hospitals were major

Laws for citizens, and by them too -Ruchi Gupta and Nikhil Dey

re and consultation would have precluded passing legislation by stealth, such as the SEZ act. In any case, the inevitable reaction that comes from affected people is eventually much worse in terms of Healthy decision-making. This protocol also provides an opportunity to question the intent of proposed legislation, as in the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, where many citizen groups argue that the mandate of a biotechnology authority s

Poverty has increased during period of economic growth, says economist

the poverty line has gone down, that is not the case by its own definition of urban and rural poverty." He was delivering the keynote address at the convention on "Strengthening public Health - medical system for the people" organised by the Tamil Nadu Health Development Association. Citing the Planning Commission's definition of poverty - people getting less than 2,100 calories per

How GDP understates economic growth-Bill Gates

w anything about what works (and what doesn't) in development? Not at all. Researchers have long used techniques like periodic household surveys to collect data. For example, the Demographic and Health Survey is conducted regularly to determine things like childhood and maternal death rates. Moreover, economists are using new techniques like satellite mapping of light sources to inform their estimates of economic growth. Although such methods are

Adivasi forum leader remanded in judicial custody

-The Hindu Bhopal: Madhuri Krishnaswamy, leader of Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS) which works for Health and labour rights in south-western Madhya Pradesh, was remanded in judicial custody for a fortnight on Thursday. Ms. Krishnaswamy, popularly called Madhuri Ben, and four others were summoned by Judicial Magistrate First Class D.P. Singh Sewach in Barwani in connection with a 2008 case of rioting and assaulting a public servant.

A nutritional crisis in India

s. First, the hypothesis that genetic differences could account for growth differences is a very old one, and one that has been repeatedly dismissed by several studies, including the one by the World Health Organization (WHO) which led to the introduction of new international growth norms in 2006. Second, while malnutrition sceptics emphasize India's higher child survival figures as compared to sub-Saharan Africa-where the proportion of underweig

Is malnutrition in India a myth? -Pramit Bhattacharya

rtality are not identical issues and hence it is reasonable to expect variations in the two outcomes. Doing enough to prevent a death is quite different from doing enough to ensure that a child has a Healthy life. Also, not all child deaths in Africa are because of under-nutrition. High rates of HIV and malaria play a large role in driving up child mortality in that continent. Second, while Panagariya emphasizes the difference which we show in ta

Arvind Panagariya, a professor of Indian economics at Columbia University interviewed by Ullekh NP

Sen is relying on estimates that are on such shaky ground that every serious analyst should at least question rather than regurgitate them. The reference here is to child malnutrition, and the World Health Organization methodology that leads to this patently absurd conclusion lacks a scientific basis. Based on official ICDS data, this methodology also leads to the conclusion that Kerala, which professor Sen ceaselessly cites as the model state in ter

Drug prices set to fall by up to 80%-Rupali Mukherjee

arket share. The price to the consumer will be determined by adding 16% margin (to the retailer) as well as the local taxes to the average price (ceiling price). Addressing the concern of public Health NGOs, the DPCO clarifies that companies will not be able to increase prices, in case the ceiling price fixed by the government, is higher than their price. In cases, where existing manufactures, selling the formulations at a price higher than the c