-Live Mint   Strong political commitment is needed to build a system of universal health coverage and better regulations   Life expectancy in India has more than doubled since independence, to 65 years, from just 32 in 1950. The infant mortality rate has been cut by two-thirds since 1971. Smallpox and guinea worm have been eradicated, the spread of HIV/AIDS has been contained, and the World Health Organization has declared India polio-free.   Yet for all...

-Frontline   A study on untouchability practices in 1,589 villages in Gujarat provides critical data for the Dalit movement to shape its interventions at the national and international levels. DESPITE laws making it punishable, untouchability continues to exist in the country in a vicious manner. A study titled "Understanding Untouchability: A Comprehensive Study of Practices and Conditions in 1,589 villages", conducted in Gujarat by the Navsarjan Trust, an organisation that promotes the...

-Down to Earth   All safe motherhood programmes of the government are focused on institutional deliveries, but health centres are in disarray. Experts suggest ways to reduce deaths during delivery Lal Mohan, a daily wage labourer, has no clue what took his wife's life. Sarita Devi, 25, was expecting her third child, and was on way to a good hospital at Bhagalpur district in Bihar. "She was normal all through the nine months...

-The Hindu Business Line     Underpaid and overworked, India's nurses are in need of better treatment from the society they care for   Florence Nightingale called nursing the finest of fine arts. But Molly Sibbichan would have disagreed. On March 16, Sunday, the 42-year-old nurse, employed with the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, hanged herself inside her south Delhi home.   Molly's suicide note said work pressure and stress pushed her to kill...

-Down to Earth Grand old party of India renews some old promises and makes some new ones, but will Congress live up to its promises if it wins a third term? The Indian National Congress (INC) presented its manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Wedneday. The manifesto committee claimed the 48-page document was prepared after wide consultations by engaging millions of people, grassroots congress workers and every section of the...