More children in India are dying every year soon after being vaccinated, and the government has no clue why. Union health ministry statistics obtained under the Right to Information Act show that 128 children died in 2010 due to adverse effects after immunization (AEFI). That count has risen in the past three years, with 111 such deaths in 2008 and 116 in 2009. AEFI is a general term that covers various...
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Dr Binayak Sen, Human rights activist interviewed by Sahim Salim
Dr Binayak Sen has given a double blow to the state administration of Chattisgarh. First, the Supreme Court rejected the sedition charges levelled against him for which the state courts found him guilty. And then he was appointed to the 40-member steering committee on health in the planning commission. The Chattisgarh government has been vocally protesting against Sen's appointment, saying that he still remains a convict out on bail and should...
More »Vaccine-related deaths on the increase by Aarti Dhar
Vaccine-related deaths have shown an increase in the country since 2008, according to the information provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in response to an application filed under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The total number of deaths reported due to adverse effects from immunisation (AEFI) from 2001 to 2007 was only 136, whereas it went up to 355 in the following three years. The information has come...
More »Mainstreaming LDCs: Istanbul and beyond by Arunoday Bajpai
A balance sheet of the Fourth U.N. Conference on Least Developed Countries held in Istanbul. Since the international community recognised the special category of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in 1971 and started extending special benefits to them, their number has increased from 25 in 1971 to 48 in 2011. In 40 years, only Botswana, Cape Verde and Maldives have moved up. Meanwhile, 26 countries were added. Clearly, the development strategy for...
More »Sarkar Is Still Mai-Baap by Pragya Singh
The revised blueprint for land acquisition envisages government retaining its facilitator role Contentious Issues * Protests are often against land acquisition per se, regardless of compensation * Most protests are against private builders acquiring land, changing land use. New norms don’t tackle this. * Poor government track record in R&R does not inspire much confidence; merged bills won’t work for rehabilitation after natural calamities, etc * Can the government, which...
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