-The Indian Express The tragedy of several women dying after undergoing sterilisation operations in the Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh has once again thrown up uncomfortable questions around India's population programme. Although the cases are being investigated and the exact cause of the deaths has not been ascertained, the incident brings to light the abysmal conditions in which women are compelled to accept government-provided contraception. India is a signatory to an agreement at...

-The Indian Express Eight years after the Sachar committee report on the condition of Muslims and creation of a Ministry of Minority Affairs, a post-Sachar evaluation committee, headed by former JNU professor Amitabh Kundu, has concluded that though a start has been made in addressing development deficits of the community, government interventions have not quite matched in scale the large numbers of the marginalised. Poverty levels among Muslims, the committee found, remained...

-The Hindu They will assess the situation at GH, where 11 babies died of complications from low weight The State government on Monday assigned two senior doctors with experience in handling newborns to assess the situation at the Dharmapuri government hospital, where 11 babies died of complications from low birth weight. S. Srinivasan, coordinator, State Nodal Centre-National Rural Health Mission at the Institute of Child Health, and neonatologist R. Narayana Babu, dean of...

In the midst of national debates over the need for labour laws reforms and the efficacy of MG-NREGA in checking distress migration, a new report brings spotlight on the miserable living and working conditions of unorganized migrant workers from Rajasthan. Titled Their Own Country: A Profile of Labor Migration from Rajasthan, the report prepared jointly by Aajeevika Bureau and UNESCO informs us that 70% of seasonal migrant workers from Rajasthan...

-World Bank Adequacy in three basic nutritional areas show reduced stunting even in poorest districts New Delhi: Stunting (Described as low height for age) in Indian children, 6 to 24 months of age, could be dramatically reduced if children receive three things that are critical for good nutrition - adequate feeding, health care and environmental health, says a new World Bank report which analyzes data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)...