-Mid Day   India shines in its malls but slips badly when it comes to ensuring the well- being of its millions India may well be the world's fastest growing "free market"economy, but it is no competition to its neighbours when it comes to the social wellbeing of her people. A comparison with the neighbouring nations shows that besides Pakistan, all others like Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and China are far better off in...

Modern India continues to be plagued by social and health ills like child marriage, early motherhood and domestic violence.  Latest data in the "State of the World's Children report 2012" released by Unicef on Wednesday shows that almost 22% women in India, who are now aged between 20 and 24 years gave birth to a child before they turned 18.  Almost 45 among every 1,000 births are born to mothers in the...

At the intensive care unit of the state-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital in New Delhi, a two-year-old battered baby girl is fighting to survive. The doctors attending to her have waged a six-week battle to keep her alive, but they are quickly losing hope that she will ever live a normal life after the torture she endured at such a tender age. When she was first brought to...

-AP The microfinance industry pursued a path of rapid business growth in recent years; two investigations now link it to debtor suicides   First they were stripped of their utensils, furniture, mobile phones, television sets, ration cards and heirloom gold jewellery. Then, some of them drank pesticide. One woman threw herself into a pond. Another jumped into a well with her children. Sometimes, the debt collectors watched nearby. More than 200 poor, debt-ridden residents of...

While welcoming the report of the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage for India for its comprehensive vision and many well-conceived recommendations, this article focuses on the conditions needed for its promise to bear fruit. Towards this, it explores the political dimension, which comprises the forces and interests that come into play to shape and reconfigure administrative policy and its implementation.   We are grateful to Anand Zachariah and Susie...