-The Hindu Business Line India’s manufacturing needs higher investment in education and R&D to become self-reliant and technologically competent The share of manufacturing in India’s GDP has stagnated at 16 per cent since 1991, despite economic reforms. No country ever became a manufacturing force without (a) a design capability; and (b) an institutional system that incentivises and sustains innovations. India needs a system to develop human and technical capabilities at both the...

-The Hindu It is imperative to promote community-based care rather than relying only on hospital services The deaths of 154 children in Bihar due to acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) has laid bare the precarious capacity of the State’s healthcare apparatus to handle outbreaks. AES has been linked to two factors: litchi consumption by starving children and a long, ongoing heat wave. As promises of bolstering the health infrastructure are being made, it...

-The Hindu Business Line To tackle homelessness, the government should provide better incentives to developers to provide affordable housing Food, clothing and shelter are three basic human needs. Out of the three, shelter remains beyond the reach of 1.77 million people in India, accounting for 0.15 per cent of the nation’s population (Census 2011). Rights groups, however, say that the actual figure is at least three times higher. Consequently, a large number...

  Adolescence is a period when physical and neuro-maturational changes take place in the body of a young girl. Although it is illegal marrying a girl under the age of 18 years as per the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006, adolescent girls in our country are compelled to marry and attain pregnancy that adversely affects well-being and outcomes of both mothers and their children. Latest available data shows that societal norms...

-The Indian Express While the UP government has not specified the 27 universities that will be brought under the ambit of the proposed Ordinance, the UGC lists 29 private universities in the state as on November 2018. Lucknow: The draft of a new Ordinance cleared by the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Tuesday includes a provision which mandates an undertaking by new and existing universities that they will not be involved in or...