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...

Conditional cash transfers are necessary but not sufficient for improving health. Good government-funded health care is essential, as are schemes which address social determinants of health. The march of capitalism, with its reduced emphasis on public spending, while improving many national economies has also widened the gap between the rich and the poor. For millions of Indians, hunger is routine, malnutrition rife, employment insecure, health care expensive and livelihoods are under...

-The Hindu   In an observation that could raise the eyebrows, social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday said he had agreed to talk to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh after it approached him to extend its support to his anti-corruption movement This was a step in getting the entire country together, and to create ‘one India' to fight corruption. “The Sangh has sent a message, and I will definitely talk to them. This movement...

Attacked by the opposition BJP, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has put up a strong defence of its draft communal violence bill. Backing the bill's intentions, the council members have said that the law is intended not to blame the majority community in case of attacks on a 'non-dominant group' but to ensure that the administration works impartially. They said communal and targeted violence spreads mainly when the public officials charged...

* Only a less ambitious deal on climate change expected * Process is dead in the water - de Boer "Ask for a camel when you expect to get a goat," runs a Somali saying that sums up the fading of ambitions for United Nations talks on slowing climate change -- aim high, but settle for far less. Developing nations publicly insist the rich must agree far deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions,...