-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government has downsized its first large-scale initiative for women, trimming the plan for a rape crisis centre in every district to one centre per state and Union territory. Union women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi had suggested 660 Nirbhaya Centres - one each in the 640 districts and another 20 in the six metros. Now, there will be just 36, their locations decided by...

-The Indian Express Recently, the Central government invited comments on its Draft National Health Policy (DNHP). The DNHP provides an exhaustive coverage of health issues and challenges facing this much neglected sector. Its major recommendations are making health a justiciable right and denial of care an offence; provisioning of health services through a strengthened public health delivery system in partnership with the private sector; enhancing public spending from the current level...

-The Hindu Jaipur: Opposing the proposed insurance-based model of health care for those covered under the National Food Security Act, civil society groups have asked Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to reconsider the decision as this would mean compromising and sidelining the immensely successful free medicines and free diagnostics schemes already operational in the State. "Given the complex socio-economic dynamics of the population, complete non-adherence to standard treatment protocols by the doctors,...

-The Times of India The union health ministry's target of distributing 50 drugs free under the free essential drug scheme is so much lower than the hundreds of drugs being provided by states with a functioning free drugs scheme that it has left health officials in these states puzzled. After starting off by talking of distributing 348 drugs in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) during the tenure of Dr Harsh...

-Business Standard The ordinance has returned near absolute power of discretion in land acquisition, except in tribal areas, into the hands of the bureaucracy yet again Even after the National Democratic Alliance's land ordinance, governments will still need the consent of tribal gram sabhas in all Schedule V and VI areas of the country before acquiring land for themselves or for public-private projects. While the land ordinance has done away with the need...