The health and women & child development ministries have refused to give an affidavit to the Supreme Court on how many children die of hunger in India every year. UNICEF says 50% of all the deaths of children aged below five years are from malnutrition. That works out to 2,438 children dying every day for lack of food. But no one in the government is ready to stick its neck out...
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Threat from chronic diseases
Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, and chronic respiratory diseases account for 63 per cent (36 million) of all deaths globally. This is the finding of the World Health Organisation's global status report on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) for 2008, and the situation is unlikely to be very different today. The picture also runs counter to the general perception that such deaths are largely restricted to developed countries. In truth, nearly 80 per...
More »Bid to restrict subsidised LPG use by R Suryamurthy
The government plans to restrict subsidised domestic LPG cylinders to six per household every year. For additional cylinders, consumers will have to pay the market price. Data show 65-70 per cent of households use 5-6 cylinders (14.2 kg) a year, while the remaining use more. In Calcutta, PSU oil marketing firms suffer a loss of Rs 329.73 by selling an LPG cylinder at Rs 365.10. A senior oil ministry official said the proposal...
More »Corruption, bribes have become a way of life: Survey
The grievance redress system in the country is “poor” and public service providers “lack accountability”. This is indicated by the fact that 95 per cent of the households that were asked to pay a bribe ended up doing so. This is revealed by a new survey, ‘India Corruption Study: 2010', prepared by the Centre for Media Studies. The report, based on a survey of around 10,000 households across 12 major Cities,...
More »A Tough School by Lola Nayar
A Delhi survey paints a disturbing picture Roofless childhood * There are 51,000 street children in Delhi; 20% are girls. * 70% are on the street despite having a home in Delhi * 50.5% are illiterate. 87% earn a living—20% as ragpickers, 15.8% as street vendors, 15% by begging * Over 50% have suffered verbal, physical or sexual abuse * Fewer than 20% have ID cards or birth certificates, and...
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