-The Hindu Ethical, legal issues thrown to the winds as poor women play surrogate mothers   Right in the heart of this city, which found a place on the atlas as the Milk Capital of India, is a ‘fertility clinic-cum-hostel’ to house women who rent their wombs, mostly for foreign couples. The facility, which runs under the name Akanksha Fertility Clinic, caters for 30 surrogate mothers at any given point. Driven by poverty, the...

-Press Information Bureau I am very happy to release the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Sameeksha, brought out by the Ministry of Rural Development. This is an innovative way of looking at our development programmes. I compliment Shri Jairam Ramesh for taking the initiative to reach out to scholars in different parts of our country to apply their minds to analysis of what is being achieved, what is possible, what is not yet...

A cure for India’s health care ills is within reach provided there is political will In most developed — and many developing — countries today, a 12-year school education and universal health coverage (UHC) are the two primary responsibilities of the state. India has failed miserably on both counts. Let us look at some of the problems of medical and health care: • Fifty years ago, when there was no commercialisation of...

-Live Mint After years of denial about problems in its flagship social welfare programme, the MGNREGS, the government has awoken to the need for an honest debate on the subject After years of denial about problems in its flagship social welfare programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS), the government has awoken to the need for an honest debate on the subject. On Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made some...

-The Times of India Outgoing information commissioner (IC) Shailesh Gandhi has blamed the Delhi high court for frustrating the purpose of the RTI Act by staying several CIC orders. In a 56-page reply filed in the HC in response to a petition against him filed by a CIC official, Gandhi has dismissed charges of bias and questioned the court's practice of granting ex-parte stays on CIC verdicts. "It appears Delhi high court...