-The Times of India Malnutrition kills more Indians than any specific disease. That’s hardly surprising since a weakened body is more prone to infections and responds less to medicine or treatment than a well-fed, healthy one. Widespread malnutrition has been termed a national shame and a top priority. Yet, the debate in governments is mostly about whether or not to give packaged food and whether deficiencies of vitamins and minerals should be...

-Scroll.in The recent starvation death in Simdega epitomises a much larger problem of Aadhaar-related exclusion from the public distribution system in Jharkhand. The recent death of 11-year old Santoshi Kumari in Simdega district of Jharkhand has rightly stirred the country’s conscience. The context of this tragedy, however, is poorly understood, not least because of the Jharkhand government’s obfuscation. According to the family’s video testimonies, Santoshi died after starving for eight days. Even...

-TheWire.in Despite widespread violations of workers’ entitlements, the BJP government as well as the opposition have shown nothing but apathy. The BJP-led Jharkhand government has coined a new slogan, “Har haath ko kaam (Give every hand work)” to show its commitment on providing employment to people of the state. The slogan assumes special significance for Jharkhand, where the ratio of working age population migrating to other states was the highest in the...

Confirming the rising trend of prevalence of wasting (i.e. too thin for height) among children below 5 years of age, a new report on the state of global hunger shows that during 2017 India ranks 100th among 119 countries in terms of Global Hunger Index (GHI). Entitled 2017 Global Hunger Index: The Inequalities of Hunger, the report indicates that the neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 7.5; GHI rank:...

-TheWire.in In an attempt to make the city ‘open defecation free’, families who had paid for toilets and were midway through construction allege that their houses were destroyed before surveyors came around. Indore: In November last year, Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) officials moved around in the city in twos or threes to ensure that every household without a personal toilet was enumerated. Nanjubai’s house was one among 40 – all belonging to...