-Outlook The rot runs deep and cuts across states As expected, the farm loan waiver scam has hit the spotlight, with the Comptroller and Auditor General’s critical report being released in Parliament. Given the intense political grandstanding on display, many think this report (on the gaps in the implementation and monitoring of the Rs 52,275-crore scheme) has the potential to be a major political embarrassment for the UPA ahead of the...

-The Indian Express Pune: Indians are living longer lives than earlier, but illness, disability and relatively early death remain severe healthcare challenges. And India appears to be lagging behind many of its neighbours including China on both life expectancy and death rates, according to the findings of a study that used new online tools announced by the Bill Gates and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. On December 15, The Lancet...

-The Hindu Indians are living longer than before, but illness and disability of a very high order and relatively early death remain severe health care challenges. What should concern health care planners and providers is that India is lagging behind many of its South Asian neighbours, including China, in key health parameters. Life expectancy at birth in India, that was 58.3 in 1990, has gone up to 65.2 in 2010. However, most...

-The Business Standard Budget underestimates food, fertiliser subsidies If the projections in the 2013-14 Budget are to be believed, subsidies on food and fertiliser which, along with petroleum subsidy, account for nearly 95 per cent of total subsidies are unlikely to rise much in the next financial year. This prognosis, reflected in an increase of just Rs 5,000 crore in food subsidy allocation and no change in the fertiliser subsidy, is odd;...

-The Times of India GHAZIABAD: The air in Ghaziabad, even in relatively greener areas such as Indirapuram, Vaishali and Kaushambi, is nothing short of a poisonous cocktail. Prolonged exposure to the air in the city, among the top five 'most critically polluted cities' in the country, can lead to a number of respiratory diseases, most of which directly affect the lungs. Centre of Science Environment's (CSE) analysis of government data and Global...