-PTI   CHENNAI: The Government has increased the allocation for Health and Family Welfare Ministry by 20 per cent to Rs 26,760 crore in 2011-12, Union Shipping Minister G K Vasan said here today. "To address the overall healthcare requirements of the country, the allocation for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been increased by 20 per cent from Rs 22,300 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 26,760 crore in 2011-12," he said,...

Fighting the insurgency will need careful planning and sustained innovation. But New Delhi seems to have only big sacks of cash and even bigger words. Eleven weeks after the annihilation of an entire company of the Central Reserve Police Force in a Maoist ambush in April 2010 near the village of Tarmetla — the largest single loss India has ever suffered in a counter-insurgency campaign — Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram...

A farmers' protest against diversion of irrigation water and land acquisition turned ugly on Tuesday, as three people including a woman, were killed when the police opened fire to quell the agitation which became violent at Bahur village near the Pune-Mumbai express highway. The firing occurred around 11 a.m. Thousands of farmers had gathered in the morning to protest diversion of water from the Pavana Dam to the twin industrial township...

The “80 per cent consent” clause in the draft land acquisition bill may be extended to government projects too, rural development ministry sources have said. In its current form, the draft bill makes the consent of 80 per cent of the landowners mandatory only in case of land acquisition for private industry. In case of land acquisition for government projects, the draft merely requires “consultations” and not consent. However, among the several...

The bidirectional relationship between economic development and health justifies greater investment in the health sector. The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has been described as one of the largest and most ambitious programmes to revive health care in the world and has many achievements to its credit. It seeks to provide universal access to health care, which is affordable, equitable, and of good quality. It has increased health finance, improved infrastructure...