-The Times of India Private companies have hijacked the government's flagship scheme to provide food to poor children and their mothers, the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), with contractors in Maharashtra alone controlling Rs 1,000 crore worth of supplies in contravention of Supreme Court orders, a report of the SC commissioners office has said. The SC orders bar contractors from supplying rations under the scheme. It only permits village communities, self-help groups...

On November 23, the Supreme Court is slated to hear a damning report submitted by the court-appointed Commissioners on how politically connected contractors—legally barred from the ICDS program—might be subverting the social welfare measure in the state of Maharashtra.  The ICDS is an Rs 8000 crore government-funded program aimed at ending India’s abysmal rates of child malnutrition by supplying hot cooked meals and take home rations to children through decentralised women-run,...

-The Indian Express Pune: A modest yet consistent decline in the infant mortality rate, especially in six problematic states, is one of the key features of the latest data from the Sample Registration System. Nationwide, the IMR has dropped by three points from 47 infant deaths per 1,000 live births to 44, according to the October 2012 SRS bulletin. It has dropped to 48 from 51 in rural areas , and...

-The Hindustan Times Melghat is an incredibly beautiful place — especially, if you visit the forest-rich area after a robust monsoon (like I did). The weather was cool, the sky pale azure and the spectacular cliff-and-ravine landscape green. But this gem of a place, 750 kilometres northeast of Mumbai in Maharashtra’s Amravati district, has an ugly side story: hunger and malnutrition have been killing tribal children and women here for years....

-The Hindu The government has approved a Rs. 4,038 crore programme to tackle the Japanese encephalitis and acute encephalitis syndrome in 60 priority districts With thousands of young lives being lost and an equal number of children rendered disabled for life, the government has prepared a comprehensive strategy to tackle Japanese encephalitis (JE) and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES). The dreaded disease has already spread to 17 States affecting 171 districts. With the Cabinet...