Recent data on health indicators suggest that while health care in Goa remains far ahead of the national average, there are many cracks in the system. Indeed, on many counts the state appears to be losing the ground gained earlier, even as new challenges loom. Rupa Chinai reports.

India is notorious for its abysmal health services leading to very high infant and maternal mortality rates. Ila Pathak provides a glimpse of how much effort it takes to get official health functionaries to perform their assigned duties with a minimal degree of seriousness.

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.

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.

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.

A new anthology AIDS Sutra has 16 renowned literary figures writing about the AIDS epidemic in India and how different communities across the country are grappling with it. Sumita Thapar has more.

No other village is more eco-friendly than this one in Andhra Pradesh. From 100-per cent toilet coverage to rain water harvesting; from soak pits in every house to clean streets. Usha Turaga-Revelli reports.

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.

Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal would do well to assess the learnings from two recent and major HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns, before "looking into the ban on sex education", if he really wants to make change, writes Charumathi Supraja.

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.

The main culprit for the low standards of medical education and the credibility of the regulator is government policy itself, which has consistently placed a low priority on healthcare, notes Kannan Kasturi.

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

For decades, antibiotics have been used carelessly in India, with doctors, pharmacists, patients and drug companies all contributing to their abuse. The results could be catastrophic. Ramesh Menon reports.

Click here to read Part II

Superbugs will alter the course of medical history. India needs to put in place proper systems that will ensure that drug resistance does not set in. Ramesh Menon reports.

Click here to read Part I

The Government's response to the emergence of Superbugs should be urgent and specific, but instead it has been living in denial even as the threat multiplies, writes Ramesh Menon.

Click here to read Part I | Part II

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.

Junk food, lack of exercise, poor parenting and modern lazy lifestyles are all triggers for obesity among children, which is turning out to be a major health hazard in present-day India, says Ramesh Menon.

As the world observes the International Day of People with Disability on 3 December, Malini Shankar draws attention through a three-part series to the pathetic lack of attention and consideration for the disabled in the Indian Railways, the only cost-effective means of long distance travel for the masses.

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 overwhelming mandate won by the BJP under Narendra Modi has led to continuing upward rally in the markets, but can it also inspire similar cheer in the social space? Shankar Jaganathan remains optimistic.

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.

Gita Aravamudan’s book Baby Makers is a bare-it-all picture of surrogacy in India, and exposes the multiple facets of the practice through the lens of a keen investigative journalist. Padmalatha Ravi shares more details about the volume.

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.

In the tribal villages of Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, committed social workers are improving the health and lives of mothers and children by spreading awareness about their special needs. Dilnaz Boga brings you their stories.

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.

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.

As the country boils over in outrage against Nestle following the detection of dangerous levels of lead in its popular Maggi brand, Sarika Agarwal takes an objective look at the possible real sources of contamination and the core issues related to food safety.

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 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.

On World Mental Health Day, Pushpa Achanta shares the struggle of some mental illness survivors she met recently and hopes that our nation's Mental Health Program is implemented by the government earnestly.

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.

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.

The Working Peoples' Charter on Coronavirus Crisis in India lists a number of steps necessary to ensure that the likely disruption to the lives and livelihoods of millions of vulnerable people is thoughtfully addressed.

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.

A recent Supreme Court order has said that the Government shall build a second runway only in full compliance the law.

Leo Saldanha and Subramanya Sastry on the threats to the Kali River from pollution and sand mining and more recently a proposal to build the seventh dam across the river's last stretch.

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.

Anitha Pailoor profiles a large landholding family farm in Karnataka's Hassan district that switched from chemical farming to organic in the mid-nineties.

India Together

With many of its regular programmes running smoothly, Bangalore's pioneering civil society organisation turns to newer ways of engaging citizens. Rasika Dhavse reports.

Citizens and government are thinking differently about each other on access to information, notes Subramaniam Vincent. The Central law in the next challenge.

The majority of civil fire incidents happen due to lack of clear laws and a blatant disregard for existing rules and regulations, assert Harminder Kaur and Bhargavi S Rao. The authors look at the Karnataka situation.

The Bangalore based technology non-profit, eGovernments Foundation has recently been in the news for expanding its municipal systems reform operations to New Delhi. Managing Trustee Srikanth Nadhamuni talks to Subramaniam Vincent.