-The Hindu PM-Kisan is limited in both scope and implementation The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan), a cash transfer programme that draws on major initiatives by two State governments, has a long way to go in terms of both its implementation and scope of coverage. Even as the cropping season is under way, the scheme’s support has not reached farmers in most of the country’s regions. Launched by the Centre at the...

-The Hindu Business Line India’s manufacturing needs higher investment in education and R&D to become self-reliant and technologically competent The share of manufacturing in India’s GDP has stagnated at 16 per cent since 1991, despite economic reforms. No country ever became a manufacturing force without (a) a design capability; and (b) an institutional system that incentivises and sustains innovations. India needs a system to develop human and technical capabilities at both the...

-The Hindu It is imperative to promote community-based care rather than relying only on hospital services The deaths of 154 children in Bihar due to acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) has laid bare the precarious capacity of the State’s healthcare apparatus to handle outbreaks. AES has been linked to two factors: litchi consumption by starving children and a long, ongoing heat wave. As promises of bolstering the health infrastructure are being made, it...

-The Hindu Doctors must encourage the continuum-of-care approach among patients The medical profession is a calling. It requires sacrifice and grit to become a healer, a clinician, and from then on, it is a responsibility and commitment to a lifetime of service and learning. Beyond the initial years of studying medicine, doctors have to work very hard every single day to upgrade their knowledge and skills. What makes the process more challenging is...

-The Hindu The disease had claimed more than 154 lives in Bihar Gorakhpur: The tension on Sunita’s face is palpable as she looks at her eight-year-old daughter who is asleep on a bed at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur. While the official diagnosis is yet to be ascertained, doctors say the child has shown symptoms of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome, a group of diseases that...