The minister for human resource development, Kapil Sibal, is a man in a hurry. His haste would be welcome, if the government’s proposals for higher education were not so scandalous. Amazingly, despite a few distinguished voices of dissent, there has been no national debate on the United Progressive Alliance government’s plans. Existing state and Central universities, likely to be worst affected by the broom of change, seem reconciled to their...

Breaking decades of silence over unjust social norms, widowed, abandoned and destitute women from different states in India came together at the national capital to launch the National Forum for Single Women's Rights to demand food, healthcare, employment and rights to property. It has been more than eight years since the January 2001 earthquake struck the Indian state of Gujarat, but Hansa Rathore still cannot quite shake off memories of...

Energy security is a major objective of all countries. Some are proactive and aggressive in this pursuit, like China; others like India are slow and procrastinate on major decisions and allow hope to overtake realistic assessments. This makes energy security in the foreseeable future an uncertain goal for India. Any discussion of energy security must keep in mind the Indian realities. Although in overall terms of commercial energy use to...

A new report released by UNICEF and the World Health Organization today lays out a seven-point plan to reduce the incidence of diarrhoea worldwide. Diarrhoea is the second leading killer of children. Nearly one in five children under the age of five dies as a result of dehydration, weakened immunity or malnutrition associated with diarrhoea. But it is a preventable and easily treatable disease. “It is a tragedy that diarrhoea,...

Despite the government’s efforts to reduce maternal deaths by encouraging deliveries at health centres, the system continues to fail poor women. I gave birth in the developing world, in South Africa, to be precise. South Africa was in the spotlight recently when a government-commissioned report showed a 20 per cent increase in the number of deaths from pregnancy-related causes between 2005 and 2007 over the previous three-year period. The report...