In a new twist to the alleged Rs 5,600-crore scam in giving away contracts for ambulance and emergency healthcare services to a private party in 10 states, the Centre told the SC that though the funds for the services were from National Rural health Mission (NRHM), the onus rested with the state governments to ensure transparent bidding process. A PIL had alleged that it smelled a gigantic scam in former...

The key message of the book is that agriculture in South Asia is quite heavily stressed due to A complex set of socio-economic, agro-climatic, and hydrological factors WATER, AGRICULTURE AND SUSTAINABLE WELL-BEING: Edited by Unai Pascual, Amita Shah, Jayanta Bandyopadhyay; Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 750. “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less...

A professor in formal attire, driving his own Beetle to the sprawling Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus and turning up in class to “open up visions of his students” — that’s how Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta remembers his teacher, Paul A. Samuelson. Samuelson, who helped form the basis of modern economics, died yesterday at his home in Belmont, Massachusetts, after a brief illness. He was 94. “He was a...

For a country looking to reap its demographic dividend when most other economies would be struggling to cope with ageing populations, the health of India’s under-five population should be a huge concern. Almost half (48%) of children under the age of five are stunted, or too short for their age, and 43% are underweight, according to the National Family health Survey of 2005-06 (NFHS-3). The primary cause, finds the survey,...

Governments and people have to make choices about accepting new scientific developments into their daily lives. Many attribute high levels of objectivity and integrity to scientists, which is not true of many of them. Scientists have been known to manipulate results to their advantage. Scientific issues are often complex, there are differing views among scientists and the layman finds it difficult to decide which scientific course is harmful or beneficial....