In a thrust to provide sustained support to life-saving innovations in India and around the world, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is placing new emphasis on innovations that effect social and cultural change to bring down the unacceptably high death rates for children under five years of age in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. “A lot of times,” Melinda French Gates, wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and co-founder of...

The alarm bells are ringing right below our feet. Delhi and portions of Rajasthan falling in the National Capital Region (NCR) extract almost double the amount of groundwater than is recharged every year. The situation is equally bad in NCR portions of Haryana, particularly Gurgaon and Faridabad, which largely depend on groundwater. A status report on groundwater by the NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) reveals that the water table in Delhi...

UNLESS THE prices of vegetables skyrocket and become a scandal — as they have over several weeks now, or as did the price of sugar last year — little in the out-of-sight world of Indian agriculture excites the imagination of the city folks, who influence, rather disproportionately, everything from government policies to newspaper content. Few of those who enjoy a hearty meal and wax lovingly on their favourite dishes can...

The Gender Hygiene Programme is attempting to change attitude towards menstrual hygiene It involves SHGs manufacturing inexpensive sanitary towels from cotton and tissue paper When women in rural areas are asked to spend Rs.15 on a packet of nine sanitary napkins, they respond by saying they would rather continue to use rags and spend the money on their husbands or children. But the Gender Hygiene Programme (GHP) launched here three years ago is...

Why is India's most socially developed state - and one of the developing world's most advanced regions - an economic laggard? This question about Kerala, known all over the world for its lush landscapes, sun-drenched beaches and idyllic backwaters, has been a subject of intense debate among economists and social scientists. Kerala defies all stereotypes of a "socially backward" Indian state - swathes of people living in abject poverty, men outnumbering...