-Livemint.com India needs to find better value for money in the health sector According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are three goals a country’s health system must aim for: to improve health, to be responsive to legitimate demands of the population and to ensure no one is at risk of serious financial losses because of ill health. Given this framework, the fourth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) released last week...

-Economic and Political Weekly Agriculture cannot be revived without a different approach to water, soil, crops and research. For the second year in succession, rainfall in the monsoon season has been less than normal. As many as 302 out of the 640 districts in the country have been declared drought-hit and the impact of the drought is the severest in nine major states of south, central and east India. It is striking...

-The Hindu The audacious and unprovoked attack last week on a group of activists who held a peaceful rally in Rajasthan can only be explained in terms of the rising resentment on the part of the ruling class towards civil society organisations demanding accountability. Flagged off by social activist Aruna Roy, the Jawabdehi Yatra was aimed to spread awareness about government schemes and raise the issue of accountability in their implementation....

-Livemint.com Traditionally, public policy has tended to view Indian farmers as what is described in economic history as the “dumb peasant” Last week, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government launched a revamped crop insurance scheme. At first glance, the scheme, christened Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, looks mostly like a reworking of the risk cover already in place; actually, it is much more. Not only does it take a big step in de-risking...

-The Indian Express New crop insurance scheme is welcome. Its litmus test: Whether crop-damage assessment can be done within two weeks of the extreme weather event and compensation paid a week after that The Narendra Modi-led government needs to be complimented for taking the first major step to revamp the crop insurance system to address the increasing distress in Indian farming. With back-to-back droughts, and unseasonal rain and hail in certain...