The goal of universal health care requires an overhaul of the public health system, medical education and regulatory mechanisms. At long last, public health is on the agenda of the country’s policy makers. The Prime Minister’s Republic Day speech mentioned that the Twelfth Plan would focus on health just as the Eleventh Plan had focussed on education. But the manner in which the education sector has been messed with does not...

Punjab’s agricultural sector grew at 1.6 per cent during the 11th Plan against the national average of 3.41 per cent. The growth is tardy owing to near saturation in productivity. The rural debts in Punjab are estimated to be Rs 35,000 crore. The number of indebted rural households in Punjab is 66 per cent, third highest in the country after Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The Government of India’s debt...

-The Indian Express Marking their first step outside Chhattisgarh, three Class IX boys of Kottaguda village visited Visakhapatnam on an education tour in January. Among the few selected by their school, they were the first students from the south of river Palteru to make the journey. They were awed by the mighty sea and ships in the coastal Andhra town. Two of them instantly dreamt of becoming mariners. The two, Kaka...

PATIALA/SANGRUR: Everyone agrees that theNREGA is causing a shortage of agricultural labour. Everyone, that is, except the workers themselves. For the last two years, the "success" of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (commonly referred to as NREGA) in reducing the number of men migrating out of India's poorest states has become something of a truism. In Punjab, this has resulted in dozens of news articles about the shortage...

-The Times of India RAJKOT: Right to Information (RTI) activist Natha Sukhadia, 38, a resident of Devaliya village of the Amreli taluka was attacked on Monday evening. Sukhadia, a farmer, alleged that the attack was carried out at the behest of agricultural minister and Amreli BJP MLA Dileep Sanghani. Sukhadia has filed a complaint against six people with the Amreli taluka police station. Bharat Kathi, Kishor Kathi, Ashok Kathi, Devendra Kathi,...