The challenge is to acknowledge the inappropriateness of the current health education and delivery systems, and refashion health care delivery relevant for the country. The confluence of recent events is an opportunity to rethink health systems. The new Medical Council of India, the proposed Human Resources in Health Bill, the penultimate year of the National Rural Health Mission, preparations for the 12th Five Year Plan and the promise of a significant...

The National Advisory Council amends its draft Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill, but some activists are still dissatisfied. THE National Advisory Council's (NAC) draft Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill has elicited great expectations and also disappointment within the political class and civil society ( Frontline, July 1, 2011). With its deadline seeking comments from civil society (June 4) having passed, it...

A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Sudershan Reddy and Surinder Singh Nijjar passed orders in two politically sensitive cases this week.These orders have caused much controversy over the role of judiciary in constitutional cases. In the first of the two cases, Nandini Sundar v State of Chattisgarh, the judges held that the armed deployment of ill-trained, uneducated and poor tribal youths in combat operations against Naxals by appointing them as...

Accusing the government of interfering in the affairs of minority institutions, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Madhya Pradesh has challenged the implementation of the Right to Education Act in the state. A division bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Principle Secretary (school education), the Directorate of Public Instructions and the District Education Officer in Bhopal. Advocate Jamesh Anthony, who appeared for the Conference, argued...

-The Telegraph   The Centre may just have achieved its objective in calling today’s all-party meeting on the Lokpal bill: a consensus among political parties over Parliament’s primacy in lawmaking. All the parties stressed that the government must follow parliamentary procedures, with some criticising it for engaging with Anna Hazare’s group. But though everyone agreed on the need for a strong Lokpal, the parties differed on its provisions, especially on whether the Prime...