The revised blueprint for land acquisition envisages government retaining its facilitator role Contentious Issues     * Protests are often against land acquisition per se, regardless of compensation     * Most protests are against private builders acquiring land, changing land use. New norms don’t tackle this.     * Poor government track record in R&R does not inspire much confidence; merged bills won’t work for rehabilitation after natural calamities, etc     * Can the government, which...

-DNA   In an attempt to curb high infant and maternal mortality rate in India, the government has decided to launch scheme from June 1 to provide free healthcare to mothers and children. The Central government has asked the states to ensure free and cashless services to all pregnant women in government Hospitals as well as to sick neonates. This includes free drugs, free consumables and diagnostics, free diet during stay and free...

In a secluded hospital bed in this bustling Indian metropolis, a woman who has lain brain dead for 37 years after a brutal sexual assault is at the centre of a national debate on mercy killing. India’s Supreme Court has ruled that Aruna Shanbaug should live, while at the same time supporting passive euthanasia - or the withholding of medical treatments that are keeping her alive. The court’s decision to rule out...

-Express News Service   The benefits under the Rashtriya Suraksha Bima Yojana (RSBY) have failed to trickle down to the beneficiaries the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. Though launched as a pilot project in Kalahandi in November 2009, poor management and lack of awareness among the BPL beneficiaries have marred the cashless treatment provision. Out of the surveyed 2,24,859 BPL families, 1,03,083 families were enrolled in 20092010. Ironically, in the first year, only 1,513...

A Direct Health Reporting System under which all the Hospitals in the city are required to provide details of the patients on a daily basis to the Chennai Corporation is all set to go online. The civic body is making provisions on its website for hosting the system, which would help it track the public health on a daily basis and take quick remedial measures. All the Hospitals and health posts of the...