Can we look at ending poverty without looking at the structural reasons and dimensions of poverty and inequality? Pradeep Baisakh looks at this and at other objectives within the UN SDG framework and analyses how realistic their achievement would be.

Looking into what’s happening in the State of Karnataka, Kathyayini Chamaraj discusses the
housing needs and rights of the urban poor.

In conflict-stricken region of Kashmir where women are sheltered and house-bound, it's next to impossible for a woman to be an entrepreneur. Making it possible are women like Arifa, who overcame various challenges to start her own crafts store in Srinagar. Renu Agal meets Arifa to write her inspiring story.

Two weeks into the ban, the question to ask is whether the situation has improved and whether protests in Kashmir have abated. Moazum Mohammad says the answer is no.

Children Affected by HIV/AIDS are facing sustained discrimination and exploitation, finds a new Human Rights Watch report.

Recent statistics about the growing number of women afflicted by HIV/AIDS around the world and in India are throwing light on a different dimension of this disease. The link between inequitable gender relations and the spread of HIV is setting it apart from other communicable diseases, says Kalpana Sharma.

A six-month research study to understand violence against HIV affected women revealed key contours of pre-contractual and post-contractual threats and risks that women face. Shoma Chatterji reports on a workshop where the findings were discussed.

In brothels of West Bengal, there is high awareness of the risk to HIV. Women are not taking any chances. Response to the newly introduced female condom is picking up. Sumita Thapar reports.

The private sector Baspa II hydel power project went live over two and half years ago and has been selling power to the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board. Lack of regulatory approvals and determination of final wholesale tariff has not deterred the company from raising money in capital markets. Himanshu Upadhyaya finds out more.

A series of intra-government transfers of forest lands turns its management and use over to private developers, completely bypassing the original public interest behind conservation of woods. Kanchi Kohli reports on a McLeodganj case that may hold the fate of similar efforts.
(also see Part II)

Recently, the Central Empowered Committee once again heard the strange case of a hotel coming up on land sanctioned for a parking lot and bus stand in Himachal Pradesh. Kanchi Kohli reports on the many ways in which officials are trying to get this illegal use regularised.

Through his new book, Arvind Verma makes a positive contribution to police scholarship. Some of Verma's analysis is in sharp contrast to prevalent wisdom which ignores the negative role of police leadership in the current system. K S Subramanian reviews The Indian Police: A Critical Evaluation.

A recent publication from the World Resources Institute shows that the informed consent of those affected by large projects can be an asset to those projects, rather than an obstacle. Shripad Dharmadhikary reviews Development Without Conflict: The Business Case for Community Consent.

Jalyatra is a welcome addition to the literature on water systems in India, and one hopes that it once again brings attention to the traditional systems and the key principles behind them, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

Darryl D’Monte reviews the book Alternative Futures: India Unshackled edited by Ashish Kothari and K. J. Joy.

Administrative lapses and the fears of young parents keep a small percentage of infants outside the vaccine's reach, and this may be enough to keep the virus alive.

This Haryana based non-profit organization is working towards building a disabled friendly society through integration and rehabilitation, says Indra Chopra

Kris Herbst profiles how David Green has propelled Aurolab into a model corporation that manufactures 'expensive' medical products at rock-bottom prices.

Direct Electro-Convulsive Therapy, banned in the west and some Indian states as a form of medical torture, is finding new advocates. Ethical psychiatrists must strongly disavow the practice, says Bhargavi Davar.

Marien Mathew meets a confident and yet vulnerable Padma Shri Malathi Holla, a very special athlete.

Are multinational firms more important than public health? Sudhirendar Sharma questions the haste with which New Delhi has let soft drinks manufacturers off the hook.

Even as AIDS spreads, cheaper generic medicines made in India are unavailable to sufferers within the country, as the Indian government is slow to tackle the crisis.

The poor never follow the rules of good health, we often hear. But the rules, in fact, are no guarantee of safe health in a system that is poorly regulated and unaccountable to its users.

Swapna Majumdar reports on the continuing ostracism that women and children face as a result of their illness.

Damaged soil, ill-effects from pesticides, and falling water tables are the legacy of practices that were once thought great for the state. Ramesh Menon reports.

Gopal Krishna reports on the heavy price being paid by stone-cutters of the Lalkuan area of New Delhi.

This IIT Kharagpur professor's vision is to remove the digital divide between the visually impaired and the sighted world. Rasika Dhavse profiles Anupam Basu and his innovation, Sparsha.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee report on pesticides in colas reads like a charge-sheet on the functioning of many government ministries. Sudhirendar Sharma reports.

Even as many Indian hospitals invite a foreign clientele to world-class treatment facilities, the poor have to contend with a different and unregulated private sector, says Abhijit Das.

As an alternative to incineration that is known to produce toxic pollutants like dioxins, India is leaning towards pyrolysis for disposal of medical waste. Ratna Singh of New Delhi based Toxics Link on the implications.

Are tax-payer funded programmes for the empowerment of the disabled working? Until very recently, New Delhi has not even had reliable data to plan its programmes. Himanshu Upadhyaya digs into the 2004 Comptroller and Auditor General report.

Reducing tobacco consumption is a multi-dimensional and complex challenge. Varupi Jain reports on an organisation that is lending its VOICE with strong efforts.

The main message that is going out to the masses is: use condoms. But this overlooks a fundamental reality about the values contained in that message, says Mirra Savara.

Newspaper and television reports leave us thinking that India is poised to become a superpower, but a more wholesome measure of where the country is will paint a different picture. The problems are still immense, and India lags far behind the world in many ways; it is important to note this and begin tackling them, says Abhijit Das.

Since 1988, SANCHAR has worked to improve the lives of the disabled in rural West Bengal. And with the increasing resources available by law to assist the handicapped now, SANCHAR is working to make sure panchayats tap into these to help their community. Rina Mukherji reports.

24 June 2005 - Sanu Ghosh was around one and a half years old when a visit to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata to treat an attack of pneumonia saw him diagnosed as a patient of cerebral palsy. But then, his daily wage-earning parents from the rural outskirts of the city could hardly have been expected to arrange for the necessary rehabilitation of their little son. Fortunately for them, the Society for Appropriate Rehabilitation for the Disabled (SANCHAR) traced him out when he was four, and even detected a hip dislocation that nobody had noticed until then. Today, not only does Sanu attend school, but can manage to seat himself there, thanks to a chair designed by SANCHAR. A similar contraption for his home enables him to manage his daily domestic chores. At school, he uses his mouth to hold a pencil to write, and can read and write nearly as well as any child of his age.

Arup Sani was struck with polio at the age of three, resulting in the impairment of his left leg and right hand. The son of daily wage earning parents belonging to Krishnarampur village in South 24-Parganas, Arup was adopted by SANCHAR when seven years old. The provision of calipers and crutches under the government's scheme enabled Arup to attend the village primary school. Arup is now 19, and studying at the higher secondary level. He is not only getting educated, but also teaching three hearing impaired children from the neighbouring village. Besides, Arup is helping a visually challenged child, Mafijul, studying in the second grade, as a writer during the latter's exams.

In Andhra's Khammam district, awareness clubs are bringing conversations about AIDS into the open, and roping in the volunteer spirit of young people to hold the line against a potential epidemic. Usha Revelli reports that plans are afoot to expand the initiative.

The Ministry of Mines and Minerals says it may lift the ban on asbestos mining. It is ignoring the views of exposure victims, informed recommendations of public sector medical experts, and mounting evidence of an asbestos disease epidemic emerging in developed countries. The rationale to permit mining is hollow, writes Gopal Krishna.

A new Indo-Canadian study has found a one-third decline in new HIV infections in the worst-hit regions of the country - Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and Maharashtra. Researchers say that prevention efforts seem to be paying off, but warn that the battle is far from over. Nitin Jugran Bahuguna reports.

Once again, a study by the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment found alarming levels of pesticide residues in soft drinks and stirred up a public debate. However, the larger issue of how pesticides have invaded the ground water and gotten into the food chain must not be missed, notes Ramesh Menon.

Tuberculosis has emerged as the greatest danger to India threatening the health of millions. More than 4,500 people die everyday unable to battle the disease. It is not AIDS that will be India's greatest threat, as most of us believe, warns Ramesh Menon.

In the last 20 years, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has emerged as an accelerator to Tuberculosis. It helps TB spread rapidly as the HIV patient's immune system is already weak. HIV's ability to fast forward TB has frightening implications, says Ramesh Menon.

The HIV epidemic has brought into focus multiple public health issues facing rural India today. In this respect, it presents us with an opportunity to deal with issues that have been neglected and even been actively ignored for too long, writes Supriya Kumar.

The proposed Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), likely to be instituted soon, will establish five 'world class' institutes to train 1000 public health professionals every year. But just where will these new public health experts be employed? Padma Prakash on the unaddressed issues.

In India's most populous state, with its low levels of sanitation, and high malnutrition rates, polio has made a dangerous comeback. The world is now looking at India to stem the spread as fears of the disease spreading to other parts of the world have come true. Ramesh Menon reports.

The mounting cost of hospital care, increasing out-of-pocket expenditure, and its catastrophic impact on family finances demand an innovative and flexible risk-pooling mechanism to provide a security net for the poor. Merely transfering the costs to the public exchequer will land the nation in a no-win situation, writes Jayaprakash Narayan.

Of 62 million Indians suffering from fluorosis, more than six million are children and young people. Among these young, nearly 20,000 are in Assam alone, and in Karbi Anglong, well known for its scenic beauty and thick forests, a tenth of the population is afflicted with dental or skeletal fluorosis. Nava Thakuria reports.

38 babies died in one hospital in Thiruvananthapuram over the past four months, shocking a state which boasts of the lowest infant mortality rate in the country. The much discussed and extolled Kerala model of health development is ailing, reports P N Venugopal.

The short answer appears to be no. Some 4,959 villages have bagged the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (clean village prize) so far, for having flush toilets in every household and school. But there is a flip side of this otherwise incredible script. Sudhirendar Sharma probes the reality.

Debates on HIV estimates often take time away from the real issues - those that can only be shared by people infected and affected by the infection. The issue that is truly critical and demands everyone's attention is that of the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS, writes Syed Mohammad Afsar, on World AIDS Day.

Within in the next two years, around 10 lakh people will die because of smoking in India alone, says one of the most comprehensive studies on the habit in the country. India is on the threshold of a tobacco-unleashed epidemic, says Ramesh Menon.