In India, private spending on health is 4.2% of GDP. More than 70% of all health expenditure in India is paid for by people from their own pockets and this expenditure has been rising, especially for the poorest with increasing privatization of healthcare. According to a Planning Commission paper of May 2009, several studies conducted in villages showed that healthcare expense was responsible for over half of all the cases...

Why is the government aggressively attacking and destroying inexpensive eco-friendly technologies and promoting pollution-friendly ones? Are we obliged to repeat all the mistakes that the West committed in its pursuit of economic growth? While it makes sense to corner First World countries into investing in eco- friendly technologies to control carbon emissions, as was attempted at Copenhagen, the stand of the Indian government that India cannot afford to enforce better...

Programme aims to reduce shortage of doctors in rural areas  Students to be encouraged to take up the course and then work in rural areas It is not possible to restrict doctors according to geographic area: IMA The Indian Medical Association, the largest non-government organisation of allopathic doctors in the country, has come out strongly against the Medical Council of India’s proposal to start a rural MBBS course called Bachelor of Rural...

The Ficci-Yes Bank report on farm mechanisation couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. For one, since it suggests waiving of VAT and excise duty on farm machinery, this is the time the Budget exercise has just begun. More important, the study points out that, while the use of new devices in performing key farm operations is vital for doubling agricultural growth from the present 2 per cent, the...

The demand for a separate state of Telangana has brought into focus the economic performance of small states. Data brought out by the Central Statistical Organisation do show that most of the reorganised states tend to grow faster post-reorganisation and smaller states such as Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have grown faster after achieving state-hood than before, and at a rate higher than the average for the country. Moreover, we find...