-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The war against dengue and other deadly mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and chikungunya appears to have been lost in Delhi. While the focus has been on the paucity of hospital beds for dengue patients, no one is asking the real question: what has been done to prevent the outbreak of vector-borne diseases, year after year? Why have things come to this pass? Far from girding...

-The Indian Express Under the plan, the state governments will identify the clusters in accordance with the framework for implementation prepared by the Ministry of Rural Development. In a bid to transform rural areas to economically, socially and physically sustainable spaces, the Cabinet Wednesday approved the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) with an outlay of Rs 5,142.08 crore to set up 300 rural clusters across the country by 2019-20. “The mission...

-The Times of India LONDON: India is the world's antibiotic popping capital, recording the highest number of such pills consumed annually — 13 billion pills as against 10 billion in China and 7 billion in the US. As a result of such reckless use, deadly strains of life-taking bacteria that are resistant to even the latest generation of antibiotics have been found to be rampant in India. The first State of the World's...

-Huffington Post The heartbreaking story of the parents who jumped to their death in Delhi following the death of their 7-year-old son who succumbed to dengue after being turned away from two major city hospitals has shaken the Public health establishment. Union health minister JP Nadda has ordered an enquiry into the incident. Just last month, a man was made to wait for his infant son's dead body because he couldn't pay...

-Economic and Political Weekly After coming to power in 2014, the National Democratic Alliance government took several measures to dilute the pro-poor provisions of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013. Though it has backed down, several questions remain over the way the Modi government has dealt with the issue of land acquisition. Santosh Verma (santosh.econ@gmail.com) is at the Council for Social Development, New Delhi. Land acquisition—by private corporations or the state—has raised vital...