-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) Healthcare for all, particularly for the rural areas has been a priority for the Government. The health indicators like Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Total Fertility Rate (TFR), and nutritional status of children under 3 years including prevalence of anemia amongst them and pregnant women in rural area are considerably poor as compared to urban areas. The key health indicators are as under: Public...

-The Hindu Proposing a new "empowerment line" that aims to measure the minimum economic cost for a household to fulfil eight most basic needs, a global research organisation has estimated that 680 million Indians, or 56 per cent of the population, lacks the means to meet their essential needs. Health care, drinking water and sanitation between them account for nearly 40 per cent of the gap between their current status and the...

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Probably, this can be said about the ‘Sample Registration System Statistical Report 2012', which carries the latest figures on the social sector by far. The report has provided some interesting trends in child mortality indicators for India and its bigger states during 2012 (see the links below). It says that states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, which have consistently...

-The Hindu The disability sector is torn between rejecting the Bill outright and assembling a few non-negotiables to have the Bill passed by the Lok Sabha After inter-governmental consultation and scrutiny by the Ministry of Law, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2013 stands approved by the Union Cabinet. What has the Cabinet approved? Is it the same legislation formulated by a joint committee of civil society, States and Union Ministries...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: It is well known that quality of life greatly varies amongst different states within India. Some states have greater industrial or agricultural output, higher income levels, better educational and health indicators while others are still struggling with backwardness. But what is much less known is that within states too there are wide and astonishing variations. State level averages often hide huge and unconscionable disparity on...