NAC’s retrograde proposals fall short of creating a meaningful vision of food entitlement in the country The National Advisory Council (NAC) has finally come out with its proposals for the National Food Security Act. After months of deliberations within itself and with various government departments, the proposals will form the basis of the Act to be introduced in Parliament. However, a quick perusal of the proposals suggests that not only has NAC...

Health is wealth, goes the adage. For confirmation, check how much India loses to illness every year, and compare it with China. While China loses 15,279 healthy years per one lakh population per annum on account of illness and disability, the corresponding figure for India stands at 27,316, around 80% higher. India's performance on this crucial health indicator — which is also a proxy for labour productivity — appears gloomy even...

The report of the Javid Chowdhury Committee facilitated the resumption, in February 2010, of vaccine production in the three public sector units, one in Himachal Pradesh and the other two in Tamil Nadu. Javid Chowdhury, a former Health Secretary of the Government of India, recommended that the suspension of their licenses for manufacturing vaccines in 2008 should be revoked in the public interest and on the strength of the compliance...

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which has revitalised the rural landscape across the country, stands diminished in the land of its birth, Rajasthan, hijacked and held to ransom by vested interests and stripped of its backbone of an open social audit. As the Andhra experience has shown, there is one ingredient that can bring back its vitality: institutionalising citizen audits. But, is the Rajasthan government up to...

A United Nations-backed intervention involving cook stoves holds the promise of saving lives, uplifting health, improving regional environments, reducing deforestation, empowering local entrepreneurs, speeding development, and helping to stem global climate change. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has joined international efforts to dramatically boost the efficiency of some 3 billion cook stoves across Africa, Asia and Latin America, with the aim to protect women’s health and provide significant environmental...