-Scroll.in Money could have been better spent on medical infrastructure, Sen says Santiniketan (West Bengal): Economist Amartya Sen on Friday criticised the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Yojana, saying it does not fulfil the requirements of primary healthcare and that the money could have been used better by improving medical infrastructure. “If we look at the healthcare system, we will see that there is tremendous neglect towards primary healthcare. The neglect is often not conspicuous...

-Scroll.in This is not just about low job creation but also about the worsening quality of jobs, says Himanshu, associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University. On Thursday, a political storm boiled over after Business Standard reported that, between 2017-’18, unemployment numbers in India reached a 45-year high. The newspaper based its report on a survey, conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation, called the Periodic Labour Force Survey that the government had...

-The Hindu Business Line Schemes that promote female employment are not enough. Childcare services can make a big difference, as in Brazil’s case There has been much clamour over the fall in female labour force participation rates (FLPRs) in recent years. The data from the Labour Bureau indicate that the FLPR for ages 15 and above has declined from 30 per cent in 2011-12 to 27.4 per cent in 2015-16. Additionally, estimates suggest...

-The Indian Express Anganwadi workers, teachers, nurses are paid low salaries, their work devalued Frontline workers providing basic services through various government programmes form the backbone of the country’s social welfare system. India’s ability to achieve its SDGs or to have a healthy skilled workforce that contributes towards economic progress or social and human development depends to a large extent on the performance of teachers, nurses, anganwadi workers, panchayat secretaries and...

-DNA The Niti Aayog’s recent report on ‘Strategy for New India @ 75’ rightly recognises that the multidimensional determinants of undernutrition are inadequately reflected in policymaking. It argues that there must be convergent action with annual health, nutrition and sanitation plans being made in an integrated manner for all districts. In the case of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), which is the main programmatic platform through which nutrition outcomes are to...