The Planning Commission has proposed the introduction of a state-funded health insurance programme by 2017 to cover every citizen of the country. The panel has suggested that the government formulate financial incentives for beneficiaries of the insurance programme as well as their employers to encourage them to participate in the plan. “The 12th Plan (2012-17) will explore the possibilities of introducing a government-funded health insurance plan for every citizen along the lines...

-Live Mint   In almost all instances, what is feared is the disclosure of “damaging” information—information that shows official lapses. Looked from another vantage, if officials have not done any wrong, they should have no fear at the release of such facts Six years after it was passed, the Right to Information (RTI) Act evokes contrasting feelings. Among politicians and in officialdom, suspicion and hostility are dominant moods. Among citizens, hope and despair—in...

The state government has defined regulations for the implementation of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, in all schools in the state. After a cabinet decision earlier this month, the state government had decided to extend primary education up to std VIII, to allow 25 per cent students from economically backward class in to private schools, etc. Minister of school education, Rajendra Darda, said, "The rules have...

IN preparing the approach paper to the Twelfth Five Year Plan, the Planning Commission engaged “all interested persons” in the country in a wide, web-based consultative exercise and also involved a varied group of “stakeholders”. The resulting document clearly indicates some awareness of the complex problems likely to be faced by the economy in the coming period. But it falls short of expectations because it does not provide a cohesive...

More than 100 days after she had suffered spinal injuries during the police crackdown on Baba Ramdev's protest camp at Ramlila Ground in June this year, a 51-year-old supporter of the yoga guru died in hospital on Monday morning. The victim, Rajbala, had been on ventilator support at the ICU of GB Pant Hospital. "The patient died of cardiac arrest. She had suffered FRActure and dislocation of cervical C4 and C5...