While Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan is proud that the State has an impressive 98.69 per cent disposal rate of requests under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the murder of two campaigners who used the law to good effect is a blot. First, it was Satish Shetty at Talegaon, near Pune, who was killed on January 13, and more recently Dattatray Patil at Ichalkaranji, in Kolhapur district, on May 22....

There has recently been some triumphalism in Indian government circles over reports that the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) has been successful in reducing maternal mortality and infant mortality. Yet while the reduction in maternal mortality – from 301 to 254 for every 100,000 live births – does provide some cause for cheer, the reduction in child mortality – from 58 to 53 for every 100,000 live births – still...

Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared—and the number is rising IMAGINE you are one half of a young couple expecting your first child in a fast-growing, poor country. You are part of the new middle class; your income is rising; you want a small family. But traditional mores hold sway around you, most important in the preference for sons over daughters. Perhaps hard physical labour is still...

When the government passed the Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005, it should have added a statutory warning: exercising this right may be extremely injurious to health. Shashidhar Mishra of Begusarai, who was murdered by unknown assailants last Sunday, is the second RTI activist to be killed in a month for perhaps knowing too much. Attacks on RTI activists have emerged as a disturbing trend of late, especially in...

The Sachar committee’s report revealed that Muslims in Left-ruled Bengal were worse off on every count than their counterparts in most other states. The report, released in December 2006, put Bengal in the “worst-performer category,” despite the communists’ much professed commitment for the welfare of minorities. The state where 25.25 per cent (2.02 crore) of the population is Muslim, their share in government jobs is just 4.2 per cent and...