Krithika Ramalingam

Tamilnadu leads the country in nutritional interventions and yet has alarming levels of hunger in children. Research indicates that is a very likely cause of poor schooling achievement and drop-out rates, reports Krithika Ramalingam.

NGOs have fared better than the government in tackling iron deficiency in poor children. Activists, policy analysts and funders want a convergence of various departments as opposed to boxing nutrition into the health-sector alone. Krithika Ramalingam completes her two-part inquiry.

Mental illness is an isolating experience which shuts off those affected from experiencing the fun and laughter of everyday life. Kolkata Sanved is working to change that, writes Shoma Chatterji.

Kerala's palliative care movement shows health services can go well beyond the biomedical model of health and be seen as an affirmative act of living with dignity. Freny Manecksha reports.

Mental illness is an isolating experience which shuts off those affected from experiencing the fun and laughter of everyday life. Kolkata Sanved is working to change that, writes Shoma Chatterji.

A number of development organisations are working to diagnose deafblindess in children, and provide learning tools and techniques that can mainstream them. Freny Manecksha reports.

The child sex ratio continues to follow the worsening trend established over four decades ago. Demographers predict that India's population will remain overly masculine for decades. Kannan Kasturi reports.

The failure in India is the major reason why the UN cannot meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving the 2.6 billion in the world without sanitation by 2015. South Asian countries resolve to try harder. Darryl D'Monte reports.

The Hathkhola Medical Bank touches thousands of lives each year, quietly and determinedly led by Ashish Das's self-belief. Ruchi Choudhary reports.

The better education and health outcome indicators in the southern states compared to the north, has been acknowledged for a long time. And yet to see it with one’s own eyes really drives home the poin,t say Reetika Khera.

The National Food Security Bill is an important step towards ensuring the country's founding principles of health, education and nutrition services for all, but can achieve that end only when it addresses children's entitlements more effectively, argues economist Amartya Sen in a speech given in New Delhi on 15 February 2013.

As India moves closer to the deadline for achievement of its Millennium Development Goals, the critical need for effective family planning interventions and greater awareness of the same become more pronounced, writes Anuradha Sahni.

In the concluding part of her series, Malini Shankar looks beyond the needs of the physically challenged and emphasises the criticality of appropriate facilities and infrastructure that would make train journeys convenient for those travelling for medical reasons.

Indian participants won a remarkable 387 medals at the Special Olympic Games for sports persons with intellectual disabilities held in Australia in December 2013. Pushpa Achanta urges greater state and institutional support for these neglected sports persons as she brings us their inspiring stories.

The Gujarat development model has been widely credited with the potential to change India’s future. As the new government completes a month in power, Ramesh Menon stresses the need to seriously question if it is really one that should be replicated in every Indian state.

The recent decision of the Kerala government to phase out sale of liquor and become a dry state has renewed the debate on prohibition as an effective deterrent. Pushpa Achanta examines trends in alcoholism and de-addiction to show why it may be all for nothing.

Did you know a cell phone in a moving car emits significantly greater radiation, half of which could be absorbed by the brain while talking? A renowned epidemiologist from the US warns users of this and other cell-phone related hazards in the course of her recent talks in India. Darryl D’Monte reports.

For the three million plus marginalised people living in Assam's riverine ‘chars’, boat clinics arrive once every month with basic health supplies, services and education. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports on this innovative healthcare delivery system.

The conduct of election of members to the Medical Council of India in 2013 and its subsequent actions over the past year have underlined the brazen corruption in the regulatory body. Developments in the health ministry raise doubts over whether these issues will be tackled at all.  A round up

With a recent drug sample report confirming the presence of rat poison in medicines administered to Chhattisgarh’s hapless tubectomy victims, it is yet another wake-up call for India to address the threats posed by its $4.25-billion fake drugs market. Tanvi Bhatikar bares some stark facts.

Institutionalised delivery is encouraged as a means of reducing maternal/infant mortality, but the misbehaviour meted to pregnant women in government hospitals deters them from seeking such care. Ruhi Kandhari reports.

The Railway Budget this year has been hailed for its pragmatic approach and emphasis on modernisation and customer experience. Tanvi Bhatikar raises a critical issue that needs to be addressed in order to deliver on those fronts.

Unnecessary tests, forced hospitalisations to meet the targets set for employed physicians, and the infamous but real ‘sink test’: the shocking realities in the private healthcare sector are many, as Pavan Kulkarni finds out at a panel discussion on the issue. Is more regulation the need of the hour?

The focus on ending open defecation and ensuring a toilet in every home is a limited one. Lasting success will require a much larger focus on sanitation, writes Aditya Bhol.

The Comptroller and Auditor General performance audit of the social welfare schemes for Persons with Disabilities run by the Department of Social Welfare, Government of Delhi, covering the years from 2009 to 2014, which got tabled recently brought forth some shocking facts, writes Himanshu Upadhyaya.

The out-of-pocket health expenditure by the poor is spiraling and the government spending on public health care is reducing. The existing public health programes and insurance schemes are failing; private health care sector is not properly regulated; Shambhu Ghatak finds the health of our nation worrisome.

Handing out non-biodegradable sanitary pads to rural school girls who have reached menarche will not address their menstrual hygiene issue. Clean and functional toilets with water supply, awareness about menstruation, economical and biodegradable pads and more is needed, finds Puja Awasthi.

Sanitary conditions in most of the slum areas in Assam are abysmal. Ignorance about cleanliness, lack of water supply and proper working toilets, absence of covered drainage and sewage, and no action from the local and state government are to be blamed for the mess, reports Nilotpal Bhattacharjee.

Much has been said about India’s success in containing the spread of the AIDS epidemic. But can it build on the progress so far and ensure that survivors receive the dignity and social security they need? Pushpa Achanta’s conversations on the eve of World AIDS Day aren’t heartening.

Delhi, infamous for high air pollution, has been experimenting with odd-even formula by curbing the movement of private vehicles from Jan 1st. After one week of the execution of the programme, there is no visible change in the pollution level. Will road rationing help to reduce the pollution level or does Delhi need much more action to control the pollution, writes Akshatha M.

There are 70 million diabetics in India, 80 percent of them have vision problems about which they are either not aware or lack access to good eye care. Swapna Majumdar reports how NGOs are partnering to reach out to the marginalised and providing them better eye care and prevention.

Kanchi Kohli raises questions on the Voluntary National Review report which shows India’s efforts to achieve seven of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.

Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of child mortality in our country. Reasonably priced vaccines backed by the government are now available to help stop this malady, says Swapna Majumdar.

A vocal community demanding its health rights through greater participation in local governance is the key to long term change, and this may be finally starting to happen in a few places, writes Puja Awasthi.

The Government of Karnataka's Working Group on Decentralization discusses institutions for upward accountability in Panchayati Raj. The second in a series of articles adapted from the Working Group's 2002 report.

The Malenadu home garden and seed exchange network in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka has made an impressive beginning in saving seed diversity says Sunita Rao.

The Government of Karnataka's Working Group on Decentralization discusses transparency and accountability for rural self-governance in the state. The first in a series of articles adapted from the Working Group's 2002 report.

The Government of Karnataka's Working Group on Decentralization discusses mechanisms for democratizing decision making in Panchayats. This is the third in a series of articles adapted from the Working Group's 2002 report.

Kathyayini Chamaraj looks at a civil society partnership that is catalysing a government urban poverty alleviation programme.

An update from the Bangalore's Public Records of Operations and Finance (PROOF) campaign.

Marginalised communities continue to demonstrate that they can own and operate their own media to ensure that their voices are heard. But is the Government looking their way, asks Ashish Sen.

T R Raghunandan is a hard hitting IAS officer managing Rural Development at the Government of Karnataka. In this interview to India Together, he talks about decentralization reforms and the challenges of winding down prevailing hierarchies in government.

On G S Gidde Gowda's farm outside Hassan, the theories of conventional farming take a backseat, while he applies a systematic preference for nature's own hand.

An update from Bangalore's PROOF (Public Records of Operations and Finance) campaign.

A new legislation aims to bring in a rigorous process of planning, transparency and citizen participation together at the local level in Karnataka, says Vinay Baindur.

Incorporating a financial structure that allows stakeholders to hold each other accountable in their balance of interests can make municipal water supply a win-win for everyone, says Jacob John.

Shree Padre delves into the details of a unique, successful experiment of self-help farm journalism.

Karnataka's state government proposes to divert the waters of the Goa bound Mahadayi river back into the Malaprabha river to counter acute water scarcity. Kanchi Kohli digs deeper.

Jacob John reviews Of Master Plans, Laws and Illegalities in an Era of Transition, a report prepared by the Alternate Law Forum for the Bangalore Development Authority.