An unprecedented economic growth during the last decade has also seen increasing malnutrition, hunger and starvation amongst certain sections of society. India ranks 66 in the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) World Hunger Index of 88 countries (Inter-national Food Policy Research Institute). More than 200 million people in this country are denied the right to food. One-third of all underweight children (57 million) in the world due to lack of...
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Food bill to help social sector push by Sanjeeb Mukherjee
Bill has provision for free meals, besides an allowance of Rs 6,000 to all pregnant women. Ahead of assembly elections in seven states next year, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is planning a big push towards its social security agenda. For, its Cabinet note on Food Security Bill has incorporated a provision for free meals, besides a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 for six months to all pregnant women and...
More »Government should provide free health services to poor: Kaushik Basu
-The Economic Times Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu on Friday said that the government should consider providing free health care for the poor and significantly increase its spending on the health sector. Citing examples of other developing nations like Bangladesh that have better life expectancy and infant mortality rate than India, Basu added that the country has not yet attached adequate importance to the health sector which might prove detrimental for the...
More »Writing out a prescription for health care reforms by Poongothai Aladi Aruna
Health is a state of mental, social and physical well-being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity. To achieve this noble objective, India requires health care professionals who are trained in institutions with standardised infrastructure, and the availability of accessible and equitable health care for both the rural and urban populace. Recently, the health sector has been in the news — from the creation of a rural based...
More »States in India: Governance holds key, size is only secondary by Subodh Varma
Are smaller states easier to govern and hence better for the people? The most recent reorganization took place in November 2000 when three mega states - Uttar Pradesh,Bihar and Madhya Pradesh - were sliced up to give birth to Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, respectively. It is more than a decade since then. The new states are now well-established. But, how are they faring compared to the 'mother' states? Has the...
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