-The Hindu A 2012 WHO study ranks India third — behind Myanmar and Bangladesh — among countries that fail to provide health cover to people. A 2011 study reported in The Lancet on ‘Healthcare and equity’ confirms this: every year, at least 39 million people here fall into poverty due to private out-of-pocket health expenditure. A vast majority of Indians do not have access to healthcare or essential drugs. By the...
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Why do we need food security bill, ask Right to Food Campaign activists -Gargi Parsai
-The Hindu Press for Universal Public Distribution System Right to Food Campaign—a conglomeration of civil society groups — on Tuesday held a day-long protest at Jantar Mantar here, raising seven questions with MPs on the proposed National Food Security Bill, particularly in relation to people going hungry when the country has surplus food stocks. Rejecting the proposed amendments to the Bill that might reduce beneficiaries and entitlements under the Public Distribution System (PDS),...
More »Food security, Plan Z -Jean Drèze
-The Hindustan Times Under the cover of endorsing a proposal for the National Food Security Bill framed by an independent group of development economists, the government is all set to empty the Bill of any substance. Provisions relating to the Public Distribution System (PDS) will be reduced to a pointless reshuffling of existing foodgrain allocations to state governments, that too in favour of the richer states. And other entitlements, relating for...
More »Chhattisgarh set to become first state to offer health insurance cover for all-Amiti Sen
-The Economic Times Chhattisgarh is set to become the first state to extend health insurance cover to all its unorganised sector workers, a step that will not only make healthcare accessible to all but also set a model for other states to follow. The state has offered to pay the insurance premium from October 1 for all those not covered under the Centre's flagship health insurance scheme-the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY)....
More »Left parties begin sit-in for universal PDS-Aarti Dhar
-The Hindu Entire concept of APL and BPL population needs to be scrapped, says Karat The Left parties began here on Monday a five-day sit-in against price rise and to demand the right to food through a Universal Public Distribution System (PDS). Addressing the participants, who had come from Haryana and Delhi, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said the government’s thrust should be on giving people access to cheap...
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