-The Telegraph New Delhi: Allegations that the government was denying services like marriage registration and property sales to people lacking Aadhaar cards today annoyed the Supreme Court, which ordered that any notification making the scheme mandatory must be withdrawn immediately. Solicitor-general Mohan Parasaran assured the court that if any such notification had indeed been issued, it would be withdrawn. Official sources told The Telegraph that no such notification had been issued and that...

-Live Mint   Rights laws offer an important lesson for the new government: you cannot legislate your way out of state failure It is well known that the Indian state suffers from a serious crisis of implementation capability. So deep is this crisis that it cannot even reliably perform the most routine tasks like moving money and getting employees to show up at work. So, it is hardly surprising that rights laws have...

-The Hindu     Until activists and patients question approaches to prevention, diagnosis and treatment, TB will continue to plague us Tuberculosis in India is big: 2.3 million cases, 30,000 deaths, a million missing patients. These terrifying numbers remind us of a continuing crisis - when every TB death is preventable. Behind these numbers are innumerable unheard stories of human suffering - of misdiagnosis, inappropriate treatment and lack of access to care resulting in...

-The Hindu     The fact that education matters only in the long run makes it uninteresting for political parties. But in this election, the voice of education can be heard No matter how categorically a party or candidate might comment on them, the problems of education cannot compete with those of water and electricity supply or the condition of roads. These latter problems affect the daily life of a citizen more elementally than...

-Down to Earth Jan Swasthya Abhiyan sends charter of demands to political parties As elections approach and parties announce candidates' lists, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), the Indian circle of People's Health Movement, is trying to convince all political parties to include health as a prominent issue in their manifestos. After discussing the matter with other civil society members and groups, JSA has sent a charter of demands to political parties. While finalising the demands,...