Bihar did not record a single stillbirth in 2008 — death of an unborn child in mother's womb during the last trimester of pregnancy (after 28 weeks' gestation). Even before you could sigh in disbelief, truth to be told that India tremendously under reports stillbirth figures. According to the sample registration survey in 2008, conducted by the registrar general's office, the country recorded eight stillbirths per 1,000 births — a highly improbable...

The Jan Lokpal Bill should be modelled on the lines of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act. That's the firm belief of Lokayukta Justice Santosh N Hegde whose inclusion in the 10-member committee to draft the bill was suggested by Anna Hazare, the Gandhian who recently led the popular movement to include civil society in the process. Justice Hegde said the state Act has all the necessary elements to ensure success in the...

Cash transfer as substitute for state service provision is a dangerous recipe for callously anti-poor and corrupt governance. THE staggering number of recent articles, papers and books on the virtues of giving cash in place of public services to the poor has created an impression that a sort of epidemic has broken out. Economists, policymakers, bureaucrats and newspaper commentators are all infected by it and are in turn infecting others. The central...

Distribution of basic food grains and fuel at controlled prices every month through the Public Distribution System (PDS) could be the largest service provided by the Indian State, touching as it does over 65 million families through a network of nearly half a million retail shops. Given that the urban middle class has little stake in the health of the PDS, there have to be some compelling reasons for the...

"The anti-vaccine lobby in India is strong. But it is outrageous. India hasn't added a single new vaccine since 1985," billionaire-philanthropist Bill Gates told TOI in an interview. "I am a great believer in the power of vaccines. Thankfully, there is progress taking place in India now. The Union health ministry is planning to introduce the Hepatitis B vaccine, the second dose of measles vaccine and the pentavalent vaccine in two...