The Planning Commission's laughable estimates of the ‘poverty line' follow from a mistake in method that it made 30 years ago and has clung to ever since. The affidavit that the Planning Commission recently submitted before the Supreme Court stating that a person is to be considered ‘poor' only if his or her monthly spending is below Rs.781 (Rs.26 a day) in the rural areas and Rs.965 (Rs.32 a day) in...
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Constitution for inclusive policies by Abusaleh Shariff
Of late, there has been a debate on whether public programmes such as school education, scholarships, health-care delivery and access to microcredit can be targeted at beneficiaries based on religion; some consider this ‘unconstitutional' and argue that it amounts to discrimination. I highlight the constitutional provisions and argue that there is nothing in the Constitution which bars identification of beneficiaries based on religion. Religious identity is listed on a par...
More »Choked Manipur to airlift condoms by Pankaj Sarma
A blockade-choked Manipur could be facing an HIV epidemic because of condom shortage, forcing the AIDS Control Society to consider airlifting rubber to the state. The Sadar Hills District Demand Committee imposed an economic blockade along Imphal-Jiribam and Imphal-Dimapur highways on July 31 in support of the creation of Sadar Hills district. The United Naga Council imposed another blockade on August 21, to oppose inclusion of Naga villages when the Sadar Hills...
More »Expert group moots a new national health regulatory authority by Aarti Dhar
A report by an expert group on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has suggested wide-ranging institutional reforms to regulate the public and the private sectors to ensure assured quality and rational pricing of healthcare services. The group, set up by the Planning Commission to develop a blue print and investment plan to meet the human resource requirements to achieve health for all by 2020, focuses on rational use of drugs. The extensive...
More »Victim of police action on Ramdev stir Rajbala dies, yoga guru may attend funeral by Indrani Basu & Bhawna Gandhi
More than 100 days after she had suffered spinal injuries during the police crackdown on Baba Ramdev's protest camp at Ramlila Ground in June this year, a 51-year-old supporter of the yoga guru died in hospital on Monday morning. The victim, Rajbala, had been on ventilator support at the ICU of GB Pant Hospital. "The patient died of cardiac arrest. She had suffered fracture and dislocation of cervical C4 and C5...
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