-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government may introduce a health cess to fund free health care services and launch seven preventive campaigns to curb illnesses under a draft health policy unveiled today. Some analysts, however, said the draft of the National Health Policy 2015 lacked emphasis on regulating India's private health industry, necessary to curb the high cost of health care. The draft says the government has the "political will" to...

-Vikalp Most countries in the world spend a sizable amount of public fund on health, though delivery of health services is organised through a mix of government and private providers. The countries recording high level of public spending in health have secured better health outcomes compared to the countries with low spending, barring few exceptions like the US, where high public spending co-exists with high exclusion. Some however have also...

-Down to Earth High-level committee report was submitted to the Prime Minister's Office in May 2014, and includes radical recommendations Tribal communities have historically faced the brunt of the state's development agenda. It seems the attitude of the government towards the tribal communities has changed little over the years. A report of the current status of tribal communities, submitted to the Prime Minister's Office in May 2014, has been kept under wraps with...

-The Times of India How does a preference for boys over girls skew the child sex ratio? Does the neglect of a girl child result in a dip in the sex ratio? How does one quantify neglect? These are some of the issues explored in a recently released report, 'World of Indian Girls-2014', authored by academicians from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences for the NGO Save the Children. The report, which...

-Deccan Chronicle Chennai: The Chennai metro rail, in spite of being the most advanced mode of transport that is coming to the city, does not have any provision for toilets for its passengers. The design plan of none of the 31 stations shows toilets for passengers and officials confirm this. According to metro rail officials, the exclusion of toilets from the design is due to the fact that even Delhi metro...