The recommendations of the Planning Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Access to Universal Healthcare are significant because they make explicit the need to contextualise health within the rights. However, the problem with the report is that it does not ask why many of the same recommendations that were made by previous committees have not been implemented. The HLEG neither recognises the problems, constraints and compulsions at the national, state...

-Eastern Panorama   It’s been almost two months since a 6.9 magnitude earthquake left the Himalayan state of Sikkim devastated. Nine families of Ralak village in Tingchim Mangshilla Gram Panchayat in the North District of Sikkim are still living in make shift relief camps with the mothers cuddling their children under blankets to give them comfort and warmth in the cold November nights. As snow has already covered the mountains visible from...

Central pension plan NPS finally gets a boost The ‘New’ NPS     Measure: Improve incentives for distributors. Has been recently implemented.     Impact: Was required. But won’t be enough, need consumer education to build volumes.     Proposal: Increase fund management fees with an option to lower later.     Impact: Under consideration. But finance ministry unhappy with increase in costs.     Proposal: Relax the norms to appoint more fund managers to increase distribution.     Impact: Unlikely. At...

The shortage in the number of applicants for seats reserved for less privileged children in private schools appears to be an advantage for the institutions to prevent the proper implementation of the Right to Education Act in the city. The RTE Act makes it mandatory for all private schools to reserve 25 per cent of the seats at the entry class level for underprivileged children and teach them free of cost....

-IBNS Leading public schools in Delhi are likely to earn a revenue of over Rs. 15,000 crore only through sale of nursery admission forms this year as against nearly 10,000 crore in previous year, according to a recent analysis by apex industry body ASSOCHAM. Besides, parents will have to embark to nearly 30 schools and might end up spending over Rs.20,000/- for nursery admission of their kids this year, according to a...