-Economic and Political Weekly Since independence, India's national health policies have been aspirational but the end results have been limited. The National Health Policy 2015, which is in the process of being finalised, should, in place of the earlier "broadband" approach, adopt a "narrow focus" on primary healthcare through the National Rural Health Mission. The latter has focused on primary healthcare and has shown visible results. A slew of suggestions as...

-Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Finance Economic Outlook, Prospects and Policy Challenges Macroeconomic fundamentals in 2014-15 have dramatically improved. Highlights are: * Inflation has declined by over 6 percentage points since late 2013. * The current account deficit has declined from a peak of 6.7 percent of GDP (in Q3, 2012-13) to an estimated 1.0 percent in the coming fiscal year. * Foreign portfolio flows have stabilized the rupee, exerting downward pressure on long-term interest...

-The Hindu The government's first full year budget is an excellent chance to recognise missed opportunities and take corrective action with regard to investing in addressing gender inequality The coming Union budget is significant for at least two reasons: first, this will be the new government's maiden full year budget. Second, with the NITI Aayog replacing the Planning Commission, the government is likely to abolish the distinction between plan and non-plan budgets. This...

-The Hindu family planning programmes on the right track, feels Health Ministry India, which is unlikely to achieve the fifth Millennium Development Goals (MDG-5) of reducing maternal mortality to 109 per 1,00,000 live births by 2015, is however, confident of meeting the target for lowering the total fertility rate (TFR) by the end of the 12th Plan. A reduction in the TFR rates in nine of the 11 high-focus States has given Health...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Despite the botched Chhattisgarh sterilization the number of women who underwent sterilization surgery increased by 36% even as male sterilizations dropped to below 25% last year. According to health ministry data accessed through RTI the number of female sterilizations has increased from 30.22 lakh in 2012-2013 to 41.28 lakh in 2013-2014. Male sterilizations-which were already low-dropped further from 1.20 lakh to 91,652 in the same period. A...