Bihar Government's programme of distributing bicycles to school girls may be a modest intervention but is leading to big changes. A new research-based paper, brought out in August 2013, corroborates the success of the programme and testifies that it is leading to improved school enrollment of girls and arresting their dropout rates (See links below to read full paper and earlier studies on the subject).   Based on econometric and statistical models,...

-The Telegraph Three of the nine experts assigned the job of saving the Ganga resigned from a high-powered central body today, voicing their frustration at being kept out of the loop and the "furious pace" of clearing projects they had repeatedly opposed. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who chairs the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), the three said the government had not convened a single meeting of the...

-The Times of India LONDON: India is recording a whopping 5.2 million injuries each year due to medical errors and adverse events. Of these, the biggest sources are mishaps from medications, hospital-acquired infections and blood clots that develop in legs from being immobilized in the hospital. Similarly, approximately 3 million years of Healthy life are lost in India each year due to these injuries. A landmark report by an Indian doctor from Harvard School...

-Down to Earth 'Only nine of 74 nations where most under five deaths occur can achieve goal of 20 deaths per 1,000 live births if current trends continue' In June 2012, at a global meeting convened by UNICEF and the governments of Ethiopia, India, and the US, a target 20 or fewer deaths (per 1,000 live births) among children under five was proposed to be achieved by all countries by 2035. International...

-Outlook Gadchiroli: A poor tribal woman has been running from pillar to post for the last 15 days to open a bank account. In absence of a bank account, Sarika Sanjay Madavi, who has a two-month-old child, is unable to avail benefit of a financial assistance scheme of the Maharashtra Government. The 25-year-old resides with her husband and mother- in-law in village Chatgaon under Dhanora taluka of this Eastern Maharashtra district, which is...