-Inclusion.in There is good news. And there’s bad news. The good news first. There’s been a bumper wheat crop and the granaries are overflowing. And the bad news? Where do we begin? A lot of that grain will rot. Millions will still remain hungry. Heavily in debt and distressed, farmers are committing suicide. Food prices are soaring. There’s more… Farmers don’t have money. Their land is too small and isn’t yielding much. Fertilisers and...

-The Hindu One must agree with certain aspects of Prof. Krishna Kumar’s centrepiece in The Hindu on June 30, 2012 (“A messy corner of India’s modernity”), on the dilemma of the schoolteacher in denying admission to child brides but at the same time examine some of his propositions from the perspective of girls who are exercising agency to continue in the education system. As he has stated, schools are not to be...

-The Hindu Chief Educational Officer takes note of The Hindu report and articles by expert The Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School at Melur near here, which had initially denied admission to two 17-year-old married girls in class XI, has finally agreed to admit them. “Yes, they will be admitted,” said Headmistress V.P. Nirmala. Her decision came following the intervention of Chief Educational Officer (CEO) S. Nagaraja Murugan, who took note of the news...

'Women in urban slums need a basket of healthcare services to meet their needs' As the Centre mulls a national urban health mission on the lines of the existing National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), a study indicates that the mission may need some tweaking to deliver healthcare services to the urban poor. While women groups and accredited social health activists (ASHAs) have a big role to play in reducing maternal and...

Regulations covering public health should override personal rights and the country cannot wait any more for a good public health law. The health care industry, including institutions of medical education, hospitals and pharmaceutical businesses, have grown into behemoths that can do considerable harm in the absence of independent and effective regulatory systems. While there are no success stories in the regulation of any kind of industry in India, I will focus...