-Tehelka National Health Policy 2015 draft could end up being a paper tiger Successive governments since the reforms of 1991 have been criticised for low funding on health, lowest in the world. Nearly one percent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) is spent each year on public health. But the new government has pledged to turn the tide around by increasing government spending to 2.5 percent of GDP in the draft health...

-Economic and Political Weekly   Amendments proposed by the previous Congress-led union government to the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 had the potential of improving upon this progressive legislation. Unfortunately, with its successor pursuing different priorities, the possibility of the amendments being passed remains rather low. Kamal Nayan Choubey (kamalnayanchoubey@gmail.com) is with the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. A bill for an amendment to the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas)...

-GRISTMedia.com In the course of my work as part of a team set up to look into the socio-economic status of Adivasi communities, there were several things I learned about the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and the amendments to it. Here are some important questions about land and the Act that we should be asking: * What is the State's relationship to land and its citizens? This a key question - and one...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday vowed to push through change at a fast pace but said subsidies should be continued to protect the interests of the poor. Addressing the Economic Times Global Business Summit, the PM struck an optimistic note to say, "The New Age India has begun its transition, from a winter of subdued achievement lasting three to five years, to a new spring that...

-Down to Earth The primary health centre (PHC) at Ajara block in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district would handle just eight childbirth cases a year till 2011. Today, it handles over 125 such cases in a year. The health centre became efficient because of a Central government scheme that empowers communities to monitor public health services. In 2010, the residents participated in a jan sunwai (public hearing) session, in which they told senior...