-The Hindu Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat on Wednesday demanded an independent inquiry into the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, which has pointed out serious lapses and wrongdoings in the Rs. 52,000-crore farm debt waiver scheme. Ms. Karat was talking to journalists at the party office here, before resuming her programme of “Sangharsh Sandesh Jatha,” which began from Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on March 4. She said...

-The Hindu Indians are living longer than before, but illness and disability of a very high order and relatively early death remain severe health care challenges. What should concern health care planners and providers is that India is lagging behind many of its South Asian neighbours, including China, in key health parameters. Life expectancy at birth in India, that was 58.3 in 1990, has gone up to 65.2 in 2010. However, most...

-The Indian Express Pune: Indians are living longer lives than earlier, but illness, disability and relatively early death remain severe healthcare challenges. And India appears to be lagging behind many of its neighbours including China on both life expectancy and death rates, according to the findings of a study that used new online tools announced by the Bill Gates and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. On December 15, The Lancet...

-The Hindu “The purpose of a Budget – and the job of a Finance Minister,” P. Chidambaram declared in his speech, “is to create the economic space and find the resources to achieve the socio economic objectives.” Now that the presentation of and the spate of initial responses to the budget are behind us, it may be appropriate to ask how far the Minister went in accomplishing his self-defined task. Mr. Chidambaram...

-The Hindu The influx of 2.5 lakh Muslims after the 2008 constituency delimitationled to insecurity among Hindus in Dhule, claims social activist Almost two months since six people were killed after communal violence in the north Maharashtra district of Dhule, the aggressive-yet-vulnerable countenance of the town has resurfaced. Citizens, both Hindu and Muslim, reveal that behind the volatility is the small town’s neglected struggle for an identity. A small fight at a local...