-The Hindu The Planning Commission’s draft 12th Plan for health has attracted much debate and controversy. Critics have been quick to direct their attention at two issues in it — the proposed increase in government health spending from one per cent to 1.58 per cent of GDP, and the “managed care model.” The spending increase was rightly felt to be grossly inadequate to move India towards achieving universal health care. The...

-The Hindustan Times With security forces under pressure to ensure that civilians do not get caught in cross-fire in the Red Corridor, Maoists have started deploying members of the Jan Militia in plains clothes as human shields during attacks on the forces. Home Ministry officials said forces fighting naxals were being advised to account for this strategy in its operations. The naxal change in strategy comes after the June 28 encounter between...

-The Indian Express The exodus to the Northeast, perhaps the biggest mass displacement in peacetime, reads like the dark side of the Arab Spring or the reverse of a flash mob. The social and SMS media, which accumulate forces for positive change, were leveraged to spread rumours and disperse minorities by the fictitious threat of violence. And the response is totally inadequate. Social media shifted the balance of power from governments and...

-IANS The service records of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai "are not traceable", the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has revealed in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application. Lucknow activist Arvind Shukla had filed the RTI application last month, seeking details about the most powerful accountant of the country, who has gained renown as a vigilant anti-corruption watchdog and who is once again in the spotlight after...

-The Times of India Indians are not only bad organ donors, but also averse to accepting brain death as the end of human life.  Doctors say most Indian families think their near and dear ones have a chance to recover till their hearts beat.  This slow acceptance of brain death — patients who have suffered complete and irreversible loss of all brain functions and are clinically and legally dead — is seriously affecting...