Four years ago, High Court asked the State to bring the rate to almost nil Infant mortality rate stands at 33, two points down from 35 in 2006 Rural infant mortality at 53 has not declined since NFHS-2 done in 1998-1999 Four years ago, alarmed by the level of child mortality in Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court directed the State government to “ensure that by September 30, 2011, the infant mortality rate due...
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Managing the anticipated food crisis by MS Swaminathan
FAO has warned that 2011 may witness a global food crisis. Proactive action is needed to meet the challenge of price volatility, chronic hunger, agrarian despair and climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has alerted developing countries about possible steep rises in food prices during 2011, if steps are not taken immediately to increase significantly the production of major food crops. According to FAO, “with...
More »Money for nothing. And misery for free by Rohini Mohan
IT WAS a windfall five years ago that taught Panchali Satyavva the power of a lie. It happened one Monday afternoon in Someshwar village of Nizamabad district in Andhra Pradesh. It was raining in sheets and she had just placed a bucket under the steady trickle of water from the roof of her hut. Two men were at her door, holding umbrellas and offering her an unsolicited Rs. 5,000. They...
More »Opposition leader goes on protest fast in India by Omer Farooq
Police arrested a top opposition leader in a southern Indian state and forcibly took him to hospital on Monday as his condition deteriorated on the fourth day of an indefinite fast to demand compensation for farmers. Telugu Desam regional party leader Chandrababu Naidu wants the Andhra Pradesh state government to pay a higher rate of compensation to thousands of farmers whose crops have been devastated by recent heavy monsoon rains and...
More »2G scam: PM's offer to face PAC a last-minute idea?
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's offer to face the Public Accounts Committee over spectrum scam appears to be a last-minute idea to rebuff the perception about UPA being mired in corruption, after Sonia Gandhi made a strong pitch for probity at the plenary on Sunday. After the PM created a buzz with his PAC offer, there was speculation that it was an idea which struck late. The offer for PAC came in...
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