-The Hindu Bangalore: Many persons with disabilities are jobless and unable to get or denied their paltry pension Seven-year-old Sadiya lies awake as her parents and siblings, who have just returned from an overnight trip to a dargah, catch up on their sleep. Lying on her back, no taller than an average toddler, she wails when she spots strangers at her door. Sadiya shares the tin-roofed 10 ft by 10 ft space...

-The Telegraph Varanasi, Sept. 2: When the pain becomes excruciating, Lakhyi Pal smiles. No, it’s not age — she is 98 — that has dulled her senses. For her, such “thorns” are the “pathway to salvation”, and Shiva. Pain-relieving gel, or no gel. Abandoned widowhood, or dextrocardia. Prolonged complications from the congenital condition — where the heart is located on the right side of the thorax — has not dampened the spirits of...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: Jharkhand High Court today granted three weeks to the state government to resolve the deadlock over land for building campuses in Nagri for three national academic institutions that are presently working out of temporary accommodations in the state capital. A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Tatia and Justice Jaya Roy, while hearing a petition filed by Bar Association seeking a law university in Jharkhand, allowed the state government...

A cure for India’s health care ills is within reach provided there is political will In most developed — and many developing — countries today, a 12-year school education and universal health coverage (UHC) are the two primary responsibilities of the state. India has failed miserably on both counts. Let us look at some of the problems of medical and health care: • Fifty years ago, when there was no commercialisation of...

Punjab’s agricultural sector grew at 1.6 per cent during the 11th Plan against the national average of 3.41 per cent. The growth is tardy owing to near saturation in productivity. The rural debts in Punjab are estimated to be Rs 35,000 crore. The number of indebted rural households in Punjab is 66 per cent, third highest in the country after Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The Government of India’s debt...