The word ‘hunger’ does not appear in the 12th Plan Approach Paper even once, whereas according to the latest Global Hunger Index Report, India continues to be in the category of those nations where hunger is ‘alarming’. What is worse, India is one of the three countries where the hunger index between 1996 and 2011 has gone up from 22.9 to 23.7, while 78 out of the 81 developing countries...

To control inflation and ensure long-term economic growth, India needs to harness the creativity of the large number of its farmers and entrepreneurs, especially in rural areas. The latest WPI inflation data show primary articles inflation in double digit, driven mainly by food inflation which remains stubbornly high at over 9 per cent. The high food prices are the result of structural factors with shortages getting aggravated as demand continues to outstrip...

The Congress rules state and the centre, but money set aside for Rajasthan’s malnourished tribal children does not reach dysfunctional crèches and other urgent needs Three-year-old Bagmati Sahariya lies listlessly on a string cot inside an unlit mud-and-thatched home in Baran district’s Amrod village, 292km south of Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur. When her father Janki Lal (36), a daily wage labourer, lifts her on his shoulder, her bony hands and legs dangle...

In the wake of uproar over the crib deaths at two State-run hospitals, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said most of the babies that had died were underweight and malnourished. Emphasising that the problem was “hidden elsewhere,” Ms. Banerjee, who has additional charge of the Health portfolio, blamed the previous Left Front government for the poor healthcare infrastructure in the State. “West Bengal ranks fourth after Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu...

Encephalitis Eradication Movement planning questionnaire Furious residents of encephalitis-hit eastern Uttar Pradesh have said they intend to make the Central and State governments' poor public health policies an election issue when the State goes to the polls next year. Eminent paediatrician R.N. Singh told The Hindu that the newly formed Encephalitis Eradication Movement — set up in the midst of a devastating epidemic that has claimed over 500 lives, mainly of children...