-The Business Standard The Union Budget for 2012-13 today reinforced the importance of Uniquie Identification programme, as the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee approved an outlay of around Rs 1,450 crore for Aadhaar. Finance Minister also increased the rollout target for Aadhaar card to an additional 400 million people. The enrolments into the Aadhaar system have already crossed 200 million. “The Aadhaar platform is now ready to support the payments of MGNREGA; old age,...

India has just been taken off the World Health Organisation (WHO) list of polio-endemic countries. And if the success of not having a single new case over the past year is sustained for another two years, India will finally emerge as a polio-free country. The nation's public health administrators and international agencies deserve praise for this achievement. This is also perhaps just the right moment to recall the hands-on leadership role...

-The Telegraph The World Health Organisation has deleted India from its list of polio endemic countries, acknowledging the absence of any new instance of illness caused by the wild polio virus for more than a year since a child was diagnosed with the disease in Howrah in January 2011. “This is the first time in history we’re able to put up a map like this one,” Bruce Aylward, an assistant director-general for...

-AP The microfinance industry pursued a path of rapid business growth in recent years; two investigations now link it to debtor suicides   First they were stripped of their utensils, furniture, mobile phones, television sets, ration cards and heirloom gold jewellery. Then, some of them drank pesticide. One woman threw herself into a pond. Another jumped into a well with her children. Sometimes, the debt collectors watched nearby. More than 200 poor, debt-ridden residents of...

While welcoming the report of the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage for India for its comprehensive vision and many well-conceived recommendations, this article focuses on the conditions needed for its promise to bear fruit. Towards this, it explores the political dimension, which comprises the forces and interests that come into play to shape and reconfigure administrative policy and its implementation.   We are grateful to Anand Zachariah and Susie...