It is official: India has the world's most toxic air. In a new study by Yale and Columbia universities, India holds the very last rank among 132 nations in terms of air quality with regard to its effect on human health. India scored a minuscule 3.73 out of a possible 100 points in the analysis, lagging far behind the next worst performer, Bangladesh, which scored 13.66. In fact, the entire South Asian...
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A war almost won by R Ramachandran
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...
More »Unpalatable truths by TK Rakalakshmi
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....
More »UP has turned NRHM into a deadly web of graft and killings
-The Economic Times The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was started in 2005 by the first UPA government. It has had some positive results: after 15 years of stagnation , over 1,00,000 new healthcare professionals have been inducted and more and more village women are admitted to institutions to deliver babies. But in India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh, the NRHM is at the centre of a massive corruption racket. Three senior medical...
More »Barely comprehensible
-Live Mint Private school enrolment in the 6-14 age group has gone up to 25.6% in 2011 from 18.7% in 2006 If one wants to understand the dismal state of school education in India, there is no better place to look than the pages of the Annual Status of Education Report 2011 (ASER). Forget the detailed statistics, just look at the maps displaying basic school education facts. They reinforce only one fact:...
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