-The Hindu Experts fault anaemia among women in child-bearing age and poor sanitation Chennai: Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is high among under-5 children at 8% in Tamil Nadu, according to the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) data released in 2017. Defined by a very low weight-for-height and by visible severe wasting, or by the presence of nutritional oedema (swelling of feet, for example), according to the World Health Organization (WHO), SAM incidence among...

-The Indian Express Linking it to ration cards ends up denying poor their rightful entitlements In September 2017, 11-year-old Santoshi, resident of Simdega district of Jharkhand, succumbed to starvation. According to her mother, she died “asking for rice, but there was not a single grain at home”. She was deprived of her subsidised ration as her family’s ration card was cancelled because it was not linked to Aadhaar. Marandi in Jharkhand met...

In the 3 months period following demonetisation, most job cuts happened for casual workers. This has been confirmed by the Labour Bureau's latest Quarterly Report on Employment Scenario in selected sectors. Although overall employment increased in the 8 major sectors of the economy by 1.85 lakhs between 1st January, 2017 and 1st April, 2017, employment of regular workers (1.97 lakhs) increased the most, followed by employment of contract workers (26,000...

-The Hindu The findings of the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative will aid in decentralised health planning Policymakers in India need reliable disease burden data at subnational levels. Planning based on local trends can improve the health of populations more effectively. Till now, a comprehensive assessment of the diseases causing the most premature deaths and ill health in each State, the risk factors responsible for this burden and their time trends have...

-Down to Earth Shockingly, the state’s infant mortality rate is worse than Jharkhand; it also has the fourth lowest teacher student ratio in the country “Social development indicators have not been able to keep pace with economic development in this state of over 60 million people," UNICEF had observed about Gujarat back in 2013. Four years later, Maitreesh Ghatak of London School of Economics writes about Gujarat’s development model: “When it...