-Livemint.com Little has changed in terms of infrastructure gap between India’s rich and poor states between 2005-06 and 2014-15 From expressways in Uttar Pradesh to road tunnels in Jammu and Kashmir, large infrastructure projects are showcased by state governments as examples of development politics. Have these efforts been successful in bridging the infrastructure gap between Indian states? A look at the changes in the Mint state infrastructure index between 2005-06 and 2014-15 shows...

-The Indian Express On agriculture, three years into the Modi government, while many steps have been taken to realise promises made in 2014, others have fallen by the wayside With the Modi government completing three years in office, it is time to assess its performance in various sectors. We focus here on agriculture. Without robust growth in agriculture, “sabka saath, sabka vikas” will remain an empty slogan. There are two ways to evaluate...

-The Hindu Around the world, nearly 1.6 billion people are affected by a group of diseases so ignored that the term used to refer to them is called neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). These are a cluster of 17 diseases affecting the poorest people living in the least developed pockets of the world. While some of these diseases may be unfamiliar, leprosy, kala-azar and filariasis are better known in India and being targeted...

-Livemint.com The Indian statistical system is failing to fulfil the needs of 21st century policymaking The Indian state has often been a source of bewilderment to observers and analysts, and a source of frustration for its citizens who marvel at the state’s ability to perform complex tasks—such as running a successful space mission—while failing to perform many basic tasks such as ensuring the survival of newborns. Perhaps no other organ of the...

-TheWire.in Conditionalities related to utilising health services do not make any sense in the absence of a service guarantee, and only serve to blame the victims and not the system for its failures. Nearly six months after the prime minister announced maternity benefits of Rs 6,000 to pregnant and lactating mothers, the cabinet yesterday approved the implementation of the maternity benefits programme (MBP) – a scheme that will likely exclude a large...