Aruna Roy is in Delhi, not as a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC) but as a social activist. Roy, under the banner of Pension Parishad, is spearheading a national campaign at Jantar Mantar demanding a universal pension scheme for senior citizens in India. A move that could cost the government around Rs 2 lakh crore per annum, the proposal will cover more than eight crore senior citizens. The...
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Age of consent 16 in most liberal countries-Manoj Mitta
Going by just the number of countries, the global average for the age of consent is 16. The government's proposal of criminalizing consensual sex with any person below 18 will put India in the company of countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, Chile, Peru and Egypt, none of whom can be counted among liberal democracies. While the age of consent across the world ranges from 13 to 18, the bulk of the...
More »Maharashtra wakes up to growing urban malnutrition-Meena Menon
Rising trends in malnutrition among children under six here and in other cities have prompted the Maharashtra government to introduce an Urban Malnutrition Mission from next month, official sources said. A quarter of children below six years in the city weighed at anganwadis are underweight, according to the latest monthly progress report (MPR) of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Non-governmental organisations point to a severe crisis of primary health...
More »Chicken pox hits entire village in Madhya Pradesh by Suchandana Gupta
Chandoriya village in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district is down with chicken pox. Over the past 10 days, the virus has spread through the dalit-dominated hamlet situated about 120km north of the state capital. The district administration on Sunday rushed a medical team to Chandoriya. The situation went out of control as villagers had more faith in Quacks than the government hospital and health centres. They believed the disease came as the...
More »Delhi's irony: Urban Poverty-Srinand Jha
Each time 25 year old Salma takes her one year old son Zubair to the Batla Clinic (a private clinic in Delhi) for a shot of the DPT, the cost of transportation and the vaccine adds up to approximately Rs.500. When it is time for Zubair to take the next immunization dose, Salma may find that the expenses have entirely spiraled out of her reach. New vaccines and expensive brands of baby...
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