During the Bengal famine of 1943-44, over 2 million people died due to starvation, diseases and malnutrition, among other things. According to scholars, the apathy of the British government was largely responsible for such a massive tragedy. Despite the enacting of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013, the situation of the downtrodden and the poor has not changed much in the country as compared to pre-Independence time. On 28...

-The Indian Express The SNCU at Nashik civil hospital had attracted national attention after it reported the death of 55 newborn babies in August. The deaths, according to officials, were largely due to the high number of sick infants being admitted. Akola: On September 30, Sarla Velurkar realised she was in labour around midnight. Her home, in Dhamangaon village, is just a few minutes away from the rural hospital at Warwat-Bakal...

-TheWire.in The human rights commission has said the farmers’ right to life and livelihood has been violated because of government negligence. Yavatmal, Maharashtra: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), taking suo moto cognisance of media reports that over 18 farmers died due to infection caused by spraying pesticides on their cotton crop in the last three months, has sent notices to the Maharashtra government and the central Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’...

-NDTV Jean Dreze's new book, a collection of essays called 'Sense and Solidarity - Jholawala Economics for Everyone', starts with a beautiful and moving description of what he sees from his office in Ranchi University at the crack of dawn: hundreds of informal sector coal-miners in Ranchi trudging miles with heavy loads of coal they have dug up, often from below the land from which they were forcibly displaced. Dreze quotes...

-The Hindu There must be consensus among major political parties around vital issues like health Barely a month before the deaths of children in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly due to the disruption of oxygen supply in the BRD Medical College, the U.P. Health Minister had addressed a consultation in Lucknow organised by the Observer Research Foundation. He admitted that U.P.’s health system was in the “ICU”, and said he was trying...