-The Hindu In yet another move to curb wasteful expenditure after launching an austerity drive in Ministries, Central departments as also autonomous bodies, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday pitched for streamlining the delivery mechanism for distributing subsidised commodities such as food ration, cooking gas and all other targeted government schemes for the ‘Aadhaar' platform. In a letter to Chief Ministers of 16 States and Union territories, Mr. Mukherjee said: “...given the...

Punitive measures against girls forced into child marriages should not find a place in government policies, programmes and practices Child brides are not criminals. They cannot be compared to children accused of committing crimes. Anyone who hears a story of a girl forced into marriage before she turned 18 will tell you that she had little choice in the matter. In fact, under Indian law, children convicted as juveniles cannot be...

This is for you, newly-weds. If you delay that little parcel of joy by over two years, another parcel is yours. A crisp parcel of notes. According to a scheme to be launched under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the government will reward newly-weds with a cash prize of Rs 500 if they don’t have children in the first two years of their marriage. That’s not all. If they want, a couple can...

Less than two in 10 women in India received medical attention by a qualified professional in 2010 while delivering at home. Contrary to popular belief, fewer women in urban India received medical attention while delivering at home than rural India - 10.8% against 16.2%. Nearly 1 in 4 births overall were attended by "untrained functionaries" - varying from as high as 53.5% in Jharkhand to as low as 0.2% in...

The government proposes to convert the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) into a National Health Mission to provide health care to the urban poor also, in the course of the 12th Plan. Universal access to free generic essential medicines in public health institutions in a phased and time-bound manner will be ensured. Announcing major initiatives to provide universal healthcare, President Pratibha Patil on Monday said the government would endeavour to increase both...