Amartya Sen today said primary healthcare should be more accessible to people and sought the public sector’s support in healthcare. “I strongly say yes to right to health,” the Noble laureate said after formally announcing the launch of Pratichi (India) Institute in Salt Lake. The economist, who has been conducting research and development work in the fields of education, health and gender equality for the past 10 years, said Pratichi Trust, which...

Infosys Technologies' Founder-Chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy on Thursday called for information and communication technology (ICT) being used in agriculture and rural sectors for more inclusive growth. "We have seen a lot of growth in ICT and it will grow at a higher rate in the future. The sector is constantly growing in India. But there is a need for adoption of ICT in agriculture and rural sectors. ICT adoption in these...

The world's second largest national headcount operation, the Census of India, is significant for several reasons. The largest peace-time administrative activity of the Indian state is also the third since economic liberalisation was initiated. Three decades is enough time for a nation to assess the economic impact and implications of a change in macroeconomic policies, and hence Census 2011 should provide statistical insights into what the move away from state-led...

Thousands of children and women die every year in India due to lack of access to basic healthcare. Why is it that, in the Mecca of medical tourism, the poor continue to be denied the right to health? A national television channel had a 30-minute special recently on how private hospitals are denying free medical treatment to poor patients. Under a quota, private hospitals are expected to provide medical treatment...

NGOs To No Go’s     * NGOs have mushroomed; so have instances of misappropriation of funds     * Not disclosing expenditure and receipts; nor revealing who funds them     * Not setting up NGO for the task it was funded for     * Flocking to 'hot' topics, inviting accusations of singing to industrialists’ tunes     * For every NGO supporting a cause, another springs up against that cause *** NGO numbers     * 3.3 million Number of NGOs...