-The Indian Express Why are we reticent about using techno-industrial solutions to reduce malnutrition? The death of several children from consuming a toxic midday meal in Bihar evoked a great sense of outrage. But this outrage will, in all probability, soon die down. Yet, this tragedy, as many reports show, is the tip of the iceberg. Beneath it lies unseen a story of poor service delivery and a lack of commitment. India...

-Down to Earth   Despite high cost of treatment, private sector still takes care of 80 per cent of all outpatient care and about 60 per cent of all inpatient care A study on healthcare costs in India has reaffirmed what everyone knows-that private hospitals are not affordable for the common man. Getting treatment in these hospitals is at least 20 times costlier than the healthcare provided in district government hospitals, reveals the...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court's timidity in dealing with the law on prior sanction for prosecuting public servants has offered protection to the murderous and the corrupt While the encounter murders in Pathribal and their cover up are yet another blot on India's record in Kashmir, the legal issues they raise on accountability to the law affect the entire country. They touch the very core of the rule of law that is...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Eminent citizens including former Delhi high court chief justice A P Shah, former cabinet secretary TRS Subramanian and former information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi have urged parliamentarians not to sign amendments to the RTI act when it is tabled. The government plans to bring amendments to the act to exclude political parties. The letter says that the RTI act has been used to uncover "certain arbitrariness and...

-The Business Standard Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, who has just written An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions with Jean Dreze, tells Mihir S Sharma that he doesn't understand why his book has received an angry reaction, or why he is being called anti-growth and pro-redistribution. * Is it startling to discover that you are being called a licence Raj socialist? It is very strange indeed. Perhaps some of this reaction is...