India is languishing in the Human Development Index recently released by the UNDP. Bangladesh has overtaken India in some vital parameters. What does this imply in terms of actual numbers? Are the Millennium Development Goals and those laid down by the Planning Commission achievable? Pavan Nair takes a look.

India has recently declared that it has achieved the tag of 'elimination' of leprosy as the number of cases is now just around one per 10,000 people. Still, a major challenge is to reach medicine to remote areas and tribal pockets which still battle with leprosy, and integrating the cured into society, says Ramesh Menon.

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.

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.

India's progress on ensuring water and sanitation for all its citizens is painfully slow; indeed, the country now lags neighbours Pakistan and Bangladesh on this front, and a long road still remains to be travelled. Darryl D'Monte reports on a recent meet to discuss the challenges.

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.

In July, 18 Nobel laureates met with over 500 young scientists from around the world in Germany. India sent 22 researchers. The meeting threw up many questions pertaining to the practice of scientific research in India. Varupi Jain has more.

Why would the Government of India deny a job to an individual who carries a mutation in the DNA? There is prejudice in the Indian society against individual perceived as "sexual anomalies". Vaijayanti Gupta initiates an educational discussion on the biology of sex and sexual orientations.

The expression 'women at risk' can no longer be used to describe only those engaged in sex work, and that strategies to address women's vulnerability to HIV must therefore take into account their varied risks, writes Sumita Thapar.

From drum beating at markets to using helicopters, Tripura has been making rapid strides in its immunisation programme, pushing this important health care intervention among tribal as well as non-tribal mothers and children. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

Quite a few debates are currently raging in the disability rights movement. Special schools or inclusive education, community based rehabilitation or institutionalised rehabilitation, job reservations or none - Prasanna Kumar Pincha discusses these and other questions.

Statistics are staggeringly in favour of breastfeeding, and surprising as it may be, breastfeeding rates in India are dismal. Krithika Ramalingam digs deeper into the factors at play.

Nearly 20 per cent of the world's blind are in India. Only donation of eyes after death can bring light into the lives of the needy. Ramesh Menon surveys the landscape of eye donations and finds much that still needs to be done.

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.

A pilot project in community-based monitoring under the National Rural Health Mission in three districts of Jharkhand provides encouraging results. Freny Manecksha reports.

Amidst a rising tide of reports of medical negligence in the media, the courts have stepped in to interpret laws in favour of patients, and to award large punitive damages. Shoma Chatterji 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.

Women in Kashmir do not physically encounter violence as much as men do, but their feelings of helplessness and subsequent guilt resulting from the violence around them is taking a toll. Freny Manecksha reports.

Simple interventions and sustained joint efforts by civil society groups and the local panchayat have resulted in significant improvements in communication and increase in health awareness in some of Rajasthan's most backward districts. Swapna Majumdar reports.

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.

Already struggling with low budgetary allocation for healthcare and shortage of trained staff, health services in Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh have taken a more serious hit due to issues arising out of bifurcation. Tejaswini Pagadala reports.

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.

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.

A recent workshop in Karnataka focused on the health impact of coal-based power plants and other industrial pollutants and shared inputs on how to empower local communities to combat the same. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

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.

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.

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.

The Supreme Court in a landmark judgment has allowed passive euthanasia, thereby giving succour to terminally ill patients and their relatives, but is India culturally ready for this move? Ramesh Menon reports.

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 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.

Rasika Dhavse profiles the Bala and Yuva Janaagraha campaigns at Bangalore.

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.

Subramaniam Vincent profiles eGovernments Foundation's partnership with Karnataka to create better property-tracking systems, and notes the early gains for the state.

The Karnataka Election Watch Committee collected an enormous amount of data about candidates as the state went into Assembly and Lok Sabha polls late last month. A brief report.

Hit by metal mining and tree cutting, the Kapotagiri hill range in Karnataka was turning barren. But in the last year, a local seer has worked with forest officials to bring back some of the green glory, reports Shivaram Pailoor.

True, Bangalore must be able to handle more flights, passengers and air freight to meet current demand and future growth. But London’s Heathrow airport sits on 1000 acres less land, and yet flies 14 times more passengers than Bangalore's new airport will. What's going on? Jacob John investigates.

The potential of rainwater harvesting has been much talked about in recent times. But that an ordinary plastic water storage drum connected to the roof through a pipe will turn this potential to reality is surprising many citizens in the Bangalore-Mysore region, reports Shree Padre.

Water table reports in Karnataka show that the future looks bleak. While rainwater harvesting (RWH) is looked upon as a viable solution and has become a buzzword, the state has only taken an incremental implementation path, with urban areas currently leading rural areas, reports Padmalatha Ravi.

A citizens forum at Bangalore has been spearheading interventions using the Karnataka Right to Information Act for the past year. The Katte members' focus has helped expose the law's weaknesses and make recommendations to better the recently passed Central Right to Information Bill. Kathyayini Chamaraj reports.

A Karnataka district that has been reeling under three successive years of drought may be bouncing back. The state government's top bureaucrat in Bagalkote district led civil society groups in a water harvesting campaign between 16-27 June, just as the monsoon rains had begun. Shree Padre reports.

The Greater Bangalore Water Supply and Sanitation Project aims to supply piped water to 8 townships on the outskirts of Bangalore, boldly proposing to unhook citizens there from reliance on tubewells, borewells and water tankers. Yet, the only certainty in the much debated project is that the waters are murky, muddy and unclear. Arati Rao reports.