-Outlook A hasty transition to cash transfers without adequate banking services will do more harm than good for food security. As students we had been active in a campaign for the National Food Security Act (NFSA) since 2009. We met more than 100 Members of Parliament to explain why the law was important. Our own belief in the importance of the Act came from having participated in surveys to understand the...
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Chhattisgarh PDS rice scam: probe widens as police find a list with names, alleged bribes -Ashutosh Bhardwaj
-The Indian Express Raipur: The Chhattisgarh anti-corruption bureau (ACB), which is probing irregularities in supply of rice for the public distribution system (PDS) in the state, is scrutinising an alleged balance sheet which lists, among others, senior IAS officers and personal assistants to the food minister and chief secretary as beneficiaries of illegal commissions. The five-page balance sheet, recovered by the ACB from the office of Girish Sharma, personal assistant to...
More »Driven to distress -R Krishnakumar
-Frontline Kerala is facing a situation where health care costs are leading more and more people, not just low-income families, to financial distress. KERALA is once again drawing attention to itself, this time for a persistent trend of a large number of households being pushed into financial ruin because of the expenses incurred for medical care. Several studies have now found evidence for the many facets of this worrying development in a...
More »No country for women -Vidya Venkat
-The Hindu Law is merely an instrumentality of justice, to deliver it remains in the hands of those vested with the responsibility of implementing them - the police, the courts and the lawyers. Thanks to the documentary India's Daughter by British film-maker Leslee Udwin, the subject of sexual violence and attitudes towards women in India is back in the national headlines. Over two years ago, when the rape of a 23-year-old paramedical...
More »Putting the ‘universal’ in healthcare -Lant Pritchett & Gulzar Natarajan
-The Indian Express Universal health coverage (UHC) is at the heart of the government's healthcare agenda. The 12th Five Year Plan targets a long-term goal of UHC where "each individual would have assured access to a defined essential range of medicines and treatment at an affordable price, which would be entirely free for a large percentage of the population". But this year's reduced budgetary allocation raises troublesome questions about its ability...
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