It will develop blueprint to achieve ‘health for all' by 2020 Recognising the importance of defining a comprehensive strategy for universal health coverage, the Planning Commission has set up a high level expert group to develop a blueprint and investment plan for meeting the human resource requirements to achieve ‘health for all' by 2020. The 15-member high level group on universal health coverage, chaired by K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public...

Lancet dismisses criticisms levelled at the “rural MBBS,” saying they bear little credibility The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry might still be awaiting “formal” clearance for its much debated Bachelor of Rural Health Care course that aims to create a cadre of healthcare workers for the rural areas, but the Centre has received global appreciation for “trying to find an innovative solution to a deeply entrenched problem which is not...

In an attempt to break the deadlock over the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill and the accompanying Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has invited Trinamool Congress chief and railway minister Mamata Banerjee for talks on October 25. Ms Banerjee, who has strong reservations over the twin pieces of legislation, is, as per Trinamool Congress sources, unlikely to relent. Ms Banerjee’s stand is that the state should have absolutely no...

The farmers need to come out of their traditional mindset and develop business acumen to reap the benefits of food processing that has a lot to offer to the country, says joint secretary, ministry of food processing industries, Government of India, Ajit Kumar. Kumar was in the city to inaugurate one-day orientation training programme on food processing for farmers at then Banaras Hindu University on Sunday. Saying that commercial orientation and awareness...

The youth will not take no for an answer. Five years on, the RTI comes of age. At four feet something, Santosh’s energy belies her petite frame. The school dropout was introduced to RTI through activist Arvind Kejriwal, and now, at Parivartan’s Sundar Nagri office, she holds fort, helping others acquire everything from BPL and ration cards to school admissions through RTI. Threats and attacks by local authorities who dubbed her...