Conditional cash transfers are necessary but not sufficient for improving health. Good government-funded health care is essential, as are schemes which address social determinants of health. The march of capitalism, with its reduced emphasis on public spending, while improving many national economies has also widened the gap between the rich and the poor. For millions of Indians, hunger is routine, malnutrition rife, employment insecure, health care expensive and livelihoods are under...

-The Hindu   Tata Motors on Tuesday said it would take appropriate steps after studying the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011, which pertains to the plot leased by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) to the company and its vendors. The Bill was passed by the Assembly by voice vote amid Opposition walkout earlier in the day. Tata Motors said it was an immensely painful decision for it to pull...

-The Telegraph   Tata Motors has said the Singur land-return bill does not state the reasons for the transfer of the Nano plant, breaking its silence to portray a vivid description of the agitation that preceded its pullout without mentioning either Mamata Banerjee or her party. The Tatas added that “appropriate steps” would be taken after studying the bill that mentions Tata Motors “abandoned” the project. The bill was passed in the...

Haryana records the lowest adult sex ratio in the country, and its Jhajjar district has the worst adult and child sex ratios. THE results of the provisional Census revealed that Haryana as a whole registered the lowest adult sex ratio in the country and also had the lowest child sex ratio (CSR). Among the State's districts, Jhajjar recorded the lowest adult as well as child sex ratio, and within the district,...

One in three women worldwide gives birth without expert help, a study from UK charity Save the Children suggests. It said if a global shortage of 350,000 midwives were met, more than one million babies a year could be saved. Some 1,000 women and 2,000 babies died every day from easily preventable birth complications - Afghanistan was the worst place to have a baby, it said. The charity urged world leaders to show...