-The Guardian Universal healthcare is often presented as an idealistic goal that remains out of reach for all but the richest nations. That's not the case, writes Amartya Sen. Look at what has been achieved in Rwanda, Thailand and Bangladesh Twenty-five hundred years ago, the young Gautama Buddha left his princely home, in the foothills of the Himalayas, in a state of agitation and agony. What was he so distressed about?...

-DailyMail.co.uk Your friendly neighbourhood NGO worker may have been crying themselves hoarse for years over social ills, but there is a high chance that the organisation he or she represents lacks financial transparency. Nearly 25 lakh NGOs across the country, most of whom receive funds worth crores of rupees from the government and abroad, came under the Supreme Court's scrutiny on Monday after the CBI submitted that only 10 per cent of...

-The Hindu For the land-acquirer, the land act ordinance tries to lessen the indirect price of acquisition and transaction by diluting requirements for social impact assessments and referenda. For the land-loser, it not only retains all forms of compensation and rehabilitation, but also grows the number of those eligible for lucrative pay-offs The government of India continues to search for the right way to do land acquisition. Last week, the Union Finance...

-The Hindu Business Line Unlike in the 1970s, the moral outrage over glaring differences has given way to an aspirational ethos For those who have lived in Indian cities long enough, it is difficult to miss the remarkable change in people's tolerance of economic inequality. Back in the 1970s, economic inequality was a major part of the urban discourse. The various dimensions of inequality dominated coffee house discussions, theatre and even popular cinema, contributing...

-The Hindu Says the government is resorting to falsehood to rule country Kolkata / New Delhi: The BMS was among the central unions that led 3.6-lakh workers of Coal India Ltd. (CIL) on a five-day strike beginning Tuesday. Earlier in November, the BMS stayed away from a strike called on November 24 by other central trade unions to oppose the coal ordinance. "Four months ago, we had asked Coal Minister Piyush Goyal to...