The recent Supreme Court of India’s judgments (please click here and here) related to ensuring food security of the migrant and unorganised sector workers through the provision of dry ration, running of community kitchens and proper implementation of the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme should come as no surprise to us. A recent review of some of the robust studies, which relied on multi-state surveys (or reference surveys), having...

-IndiaSpend.com A new study of the Rajasthan government's Bhamashah health insurance programme for poor households has found that just providing health insurance cover doesn't reduce gender inequality in access to even subsidised healthcare Jaipur: Women from poor households made about 235,000 fewer hospital visits compared to men for seven gender-neutral disease categories between January 2017 and October 2019, a new study analysing a Rajasthan state health insurance scheme has estimated. The Bhamashah...

-TheNewsMinute.com Workers in these industries are prone to several health vulnerabilities including hearing loss, respiratory illnesses, and musculoskeletal discomfort, that need to be better understood and addressed. Bronchitis, tuberculosis, weight loss and hearing loss are oft-heard health problems among workers of fine-dust producing industries in the Tirupur-Coimbatore region in Tamil Nadu. With a plethora of cotton spinning mills, garment units and power looms, these fine dust producing industries are the primary employers...

-The Hindu Business Line The development economist, now part of Tamil Nadu’s Economic Advisory Council, says that public expenditure on health is just 0.6 per cent of the state domestic product, one of the lowest ratios among Indian states * Universal quality education, health care and social security are still distant goals * A well-designed system of emergency cash transfers would be quite useful in this situation of recurrent crises, which may last...

-IndiaSpend.com Women farmers are taking the lead in reviving the cultivation of native varieties of millets that are resilient to drought, salinity, extreme heat, pests and diseases; need less water than paddy; and are richer in nutrition. Nestled in the remote forested hills of Odisha's Malkangiri district, Bondaghati is home to the Bonda tribe, one of the 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) in the state. Some 12,321 Bonda people lived in...