The country's maternal mortality ratio (MMRatio) exceeds that of China by a huge margin, which not only indicates the poor status of women in our society but also the miserable functioning of health system, among other things. However, there is some good news around the corner to cheer about. Recently released data by the Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin indicates that for the country as a whole the MMRatio has...

-The Hindu NITI Aayog CEO says he did not say they were dragging down India’s growth Facing criticism over his comment that eastern States such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the BJP is in power, are keeping India backward, Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, on Tuesday issued a clarification on Twitter. “These States are backward on Human Development Indicators because of legacy issues. This government’s...

-TheWire.in Maharashtra cannot retain its position as a progressive state if health budget cuts become a characteristic part of its budgets. Massive budget cuts and budget under-spending in the social sector have been reported from Maharashtra over the last two years. The state spent as less as 0.49% of its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) on the public health sector in 2017-18. Incidentally, the state also witnessed high malnourishment, rising leprosy cases,...

-Down to Earth Shockingly, the state’s infant mortality rate is worse than Jharkhand; it also has the fourth lowest teacher student ratio in the country “Social development indicators have not been able to keep pace with economic development in this state of over 60 million people," UNICEF had observed about Gujarat back in 2013. Four years later, Maitreesh Ghatak of London School of Economics writes about Gujarat’s development model: “When it...

-Frontline.in The Assembly elections have put under intense scrutiny Narendra Modi’s Gujarat model of development which is touted as worthy of replication throughout the country. Audit reports of the CAG provide ample evidence of it being inefficient, corrupt and not beneficial to the common people. THE standard indicators of development, as is understood in theory and practice, comprise a range of indices, and not necessarily the level of private investment in...