Crime and atrocities against Dalits is on rise, while support and justice in these cases are long delayed and the coverage of these crimes is inept, biased or voyeuristic. Pushpa Achanta finds out why media, the fourth pillar of our democracy, is falling short in its duty.

As the refugee crisis deepens in Syria, visuals of millions of people hoping to catch a train to a better life fill the media space. Shalini Bhutani reflects on the state of refugee policies in the South Asian region while remembering her own father’s experience weeks before the India-Pakistan partition.

The Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court has found illegalities in central government clearances to Sterlite Industries' bauxite mining project in Orissa. The committee has recommended (to the apex court) against diversion of forestlands for the project. Kanchi Kohli reports.

Once-young fighters from Sri Lanka are now mostly family men entrenched in Malkangiri town. The way the one-time, once-brash warriors have woven themselves into the community is touching, writes P Sainath.

In spite of the development and welfare plans and programs implemented since Independence, the tribals of our nation remain the most marginalised group. There are many valid reasons for this as Abhijit Mohanty finds out when he looks into the existing Tribal Sub Plan funds and what's happening with it.

A panel discussion at the recent annual meet of the Network of Women in Media, India points to constraints as well as prejudices in media coverage of conflicts. As a result, those working on these stories can only hope that readers themselves will recognise the value of their work. Shoma Chatterji reports.

As the spectre of communal violence raises its ugly head yet again in the build-up towards elections, India Together talks to Ramachandra Guha to explore the threats to the secular imagination in India and the hopes for religious pluralism in the democracy.

While any act of self-killing is tragic and worthy of attention, one cannot help wonder why the proportion of male suicides in the country steadily rises with age. Take a look at the stark and sustained picture revealed by the data published by the NCRB.

Days before Telangana goes to polls, Venugopalrao Nellutla examines the lack of exuberance and the dilemmas among people in the region, even as they look ahead to statehood and their own government in weeks from now.

The public's perception that government facilities and services are poor has led them to abandon these in favour of private providers. But those are not necessarily better, writes R Balasubramaniam.

From the time of the PM’s commitment to a ‘Swachh Bharat’ in August 2014, what has changed in the WASH sector in India? Himanshu Upadhyaya shares notes taken as a delegate at the recent India WASH Summit in the capital.

The RTI-on-Wheels, an initiative of Gujarat-based organisation Janpath and the Association for India's Development, has inspired the people of J&K to press for their right to information and to a government that works for them. L S Aravinda reports.

Eco-friendly disposable plates and bowls made from sheaths of the abundant areca nut plant in rural Assam hold great promise for a lucrative industry with global reach. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports on the enterprise.

This linkage between agriculture and nutrition, and its impact on development indices is very clear, and a number of recent reports point the finger of blame at agricultural policies. Rupa Chinai reports.

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.

Pushpa Achanta writes about the challenges and aspirations of people in Kashmir on Kashmiri Women’s Day of Resistance which is observed today.

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

Care-providing facilities for disabled children are important social investments. Building and running affordable facilities must a priority for society, says Lakshmi K.

Allegedly in the midst of a major reform effort, the Uttar Pradesh healthcare system shows itself to be woefully unprepared for an outbreak of dengue. Abhijit Das reports.

These National Human Rights Commission's hearings on the Right to Healthcare are bringing out hundreds of poor citizens' experiences of being refused public health care. Gone are the days when citizens endured this with a fatalism born out of years of hopelessness, writes Abhijit Das.

The Indian experience in institutionalised mental help has not been civilising. The National Human Rights Commission had issued a condemnation of the state of mental hospitals as early as six years ago. Parul Sharma notes that misguided private counselling and the lack of richer case law have compounded victims' problems.

Despite crores of rupees having been spent in name of tribal and other development programmes in one block of Palakkad district in Kerala, the region suffers from poor access to decent health care. 80 per cent of the adivasi population here are living in abject poverty. M Suchitra reports.

The WHO has warned that India would likely be hit if a bird-flu pandemic breaks out because India has large numbers of domestic ducks and the country is along major bird migratory routes originating in the East. Abhijit Das notes a few positive elements in India's readiness, but finds that much more is needed to avert disaster.

Public expenditure on health care today is a dismal 0.9% of GDP; the overwhelming majority of health costs are paid by patients out of pocket. For many, even minor illnesses can cause big financial setbacks, and hospitalisation is out of the question. As a result, the promise of the Bhore Committee's vision is in shambles, writes Arati Rao.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 pressing need for direct participation of citizens in public oversight has always contrasted with the eagerness of political parties to penetrate virtually all public offices. In Karnataka, school development monitoring committees were the latest to fall victim to this imbalance. Subramaniam Vincent reports.

There seems to be a steady increase in the acceptance of Bt cotton by Karnataka farmers. And, after experiencing the disastrous consequences of spurious seeds, farmers are particular about buying only from authorised sources. But disturbing and worrisome trends remain, reports Keya Acharya.

Efforts to make learning more interactive and more fun for students appear promising, but it may be too soon to judge if they are positively impacting children's performance in standard tests and surveys. Meanwhile, teachers complain that these efforts have added to their already heavy burden. Padmalatha Ravi reports.

For the last one year, Parameshwara Hegde Tumbemane hasn’t taken his banana crop to the market. He has instead used it to make sukeli, a delicious dried version and that is getting popular in the Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka. Shrikrishna D has more.

A citizen’s probe unearths a racket in which toxic burnt waste is sold to farmers in the garb of vermicompost; what’s more, the packaging indicates involvement of a composting firm under the government. Shree D N and Akshatha M report from Bengaluru.

Lack of clarity over legal requirements, shoddy implementation and selective approvals have made it extremely difficult for poorer communities to build or maintain their houses in coastal zones. Vinod Patgar describes the situation based on his experience in Karnataka.

The recent national consultation at Mumbai on the right to healthcare included the National Human Rights Commission. The pursuit of "Health for all" is very much alive, says Abhay Shukla.