-The Hindu India ranks among the lowest in the world in public spending on health, but the private spending is one of the highest. The National Sample Survey Organisation’s report (2006) shows over 35 per cent of people who are hospitalised fall below the poverty line because of the expenses that follow, and over 40 per cent have to borrow or sell assets to pay for their care. Private sector provision...

-DNA Not just mobile telephony, rural subscribers are emerging as the fastest growing consumers of internet as well in the country. According to the Internet and mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the number of rural internet users increased from 29 million as of December 2011 to 38 million at the end of June and is expected to touch 45 million by the end of December this year. The penetration of internet users in...

Rural India is not just embracing mobile telephony, it is also warming up to the internet. According to the latest report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the number of people from rural regions accessing internet rose 73 per cent in the last two years. The report, ‘Internet in Rural India’, prepared by IAMAI and the Indian Market Research Bureau, states rural India has 38 million claimed internet users...

-The Hindu An anthology of independent evaluations of MGNREGA shows that it has provided income security, improved health, narrowed the gender gap and created useful assets   In the midst of the debates that prevail in this country over the feasibility of the world’s largest public works programme, the MGNREGA Sameeksha — an anthology of independent research studies and analysis on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, from 2006-2012 — is...

-The Hindu In her article in The Hindu, (“Nailing the lie of the land,” Op-Ed, August 23, 2012), Ms Medha Patkar has forcefully and with reason argued against the devastating consequences of land acquisition. Without getting into the concerns raised with regard to the larger “development model” we would like to respond to the issues she has raised with the proposed Bill on Land Acquisition which seem predicated on an understanding...