Like many board games that were developed in India, of which chess is perhaps the most important and famous, the game of “snakes and ladders” too emerged in this country a long time ago. With its balancing of snakes that pull you down and ladders that take you up, this game has been used again and again as a metaphor for life, telling us about our fortunes and misfortunes, and...

Malaria deaths in India could be more than 40 times higher that what is presently estimated. New research published in the Lancet shows that malaria kills 1.2 million people worldwide each year - twice as high as the figure in the World Malaria Report, 2011. In India, the study estimates that "4800 malaria deaths in children younger than 5 years and 42000 malaria deaths in those aged 5 years or older," for...

The hunger and malnutrition situation in the country has shown marginal improvement, according to the HUNGaMA report. ONE area that has always bothered policymakers in a growth-obsessed economy is the state of the social sector, in particular figures indicating the numbers of people going hungry or are homeless and children who are out of school, the poor nutritional status of women and children, and the high infant and maternal mortality rates....

India seems to have arrived at the threshold of polio eradication, but should it lower its guard? ON January 13, India achieved what had only two years ago seemed impossible in the immediate term. The country, which, given the epidemiological data in the new millennium, had come to be regarded by health experts around the world as one that would be the last to achieve freedom from polio (poliomyelitis), recorded no...

The National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development, or Nabard, has started lending directly to infrastructure projects out of its own resources for the first time in 30 years, in an attempt to diversify its activities and make itself relevant at a time when the dynamics of the rural market are changing.  Essentially a refinance bank till recently, Nabard has created a Rs 1,000-crore special window for lending to build core...