-The Associated Press She waited 1 1/2 hours at the hospital, only to see a nurse who yelled that she was "lying about being in labor." Three hours later, her baby was born dead. Another woman gave birth on the street, steps away from a clinic that twice turned her away, saying her time had not come. Several other women interviewed by Human Rights Watch said their legs were pinched and faces slapped...
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Then There Were Three by Anuradha Raman
Poor, pregnant with third child? Even the state’s giving up on you. Why Less For More * The ministry of health and family welfare wants to target poor, Pregnant Women with more than two children, take away entitlements and benefits * Critics say the two-child norm will severely restrict the number of beneficiaries of the Janani Suraksha Yojana scheme. The scheme, launched in 2005, has been a great success. *...
More »Food Bill skips malnutrition, anaemia as ministries differ by Sreelatha Menon
The Food Security Bill, approved by a group of ministers this month, has ignored malnutrition as a subject, surprising many observers in UN bodies. The reason given is a turf war among different central ministries. According to N C Saxena, a member of the National Advisory Council that has opposed the government’s draft of the Bill, the women and child development ministry was against including the subject in the Bill as...
More »SC ‘doubtful’ of sops to women pregnant from child marriages by Krishnadas Rajagopal
The Supreme Court on Friday appeared doubtful about pressing the government to give cash “incentives” under a centrally sponsored scheme to poor women pregnant from child marriages, saying this may be seen as “encouraging” the social crime. “If Government of India gives incentives, will it not mean that it is encouraging child marriages.... We cannot give approval to child marriages,” a Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma observed. The...
More »Food Security Bill needs amendments by Brinda Karat
As it is drafted, the Bill actually deprives people, and the State governments, of existing rights on multiple counts. The Food Security Bill finalised by a Group of Ministers should not be accepted by Parliament in its present form. The overriding negative features of the proposed legislation far outweigh its positive initiatives. The framework itself is questionable since the Central government usurps all powers to decide the numbers, criteria and schemes...
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