The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in a report flagged the “inhuman and deplorable” condition of all 46 government-run mental healthcare institutions across the country. The report notes that the facilities are “illegally” keeping patients long after their recovery, in what is an “infringement of the human rights of mentally …
Read More »THE ROLE OF WELFARE SCHEMES AND POLICIES FOR THE PARHAIYAS OF JHARKHAND
Somanchi, Anmol, ‘Food and Social Security at the Margins: The Parhaiyas of Jharkhand’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 58, Issue 4, January 28, 2023. While many government policies and schemes have been announced across the country to help vulnerable communities, it is imperative to look at the extent to which …
Read More »TACKLING POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION
The links between childbirth and mental disorders have been described for hundreds of years. Mental illness after childbirth isn’t merely of historical interest. As illustrated by the findings of the U.K. Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths, suicide is a leading cause of maternal death following childbirth. In India itself, the …
Read More »HEALTH SECTOR AND THE CONSEQUENCES
The stagnant allocations in the Budget for health, education and nutrition reminded me of the film The Last Czars. Emperor Nicholas asks his communist captors why he has been imprisoned despite loving Russia and being loyal to it. Budgets are boring documents if we look at them only in terms of financial …
Read More »PANEL TO REVIEW WORKING OF HOMES UNDER JUVENILE JUSTICE BOARD
In the wake of the death of a juvenile in a State-run home in Chengalpattu district, the Tamil Nadu government on Monday announced that a high-level committee would be constituted to review and improve the functioning of observation homes, special homes and places of safety under the Juvenile Justice Board. …
Read More »ALL INDIA SURVEY ON HIGHER EDUCATION (AISHE)
Tamil Nadu’s Gross Enrolment Ratio dropped by 2.1 percentage points to 46.9% in 2020-21 from the year before, the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) released on Sunday showed. India recorded a marginal increase in GER from 25.6% to 27.3%. Tamil Nadu was among very few States that recorded …
Read More »THE FUNDING AND DEMAND FOR MGNREGA
The Economic Survey 2022-23 presented on January 31, a day ahead of the Budget, showed that 6.49 crore households demanded work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Of these, 6.48 crore households were offered employment by the government and 5.7 crore actually availed it. The survey …
Read More »DOMESTIC PHARMA MARKET TO TOUCH $130 BN BY 2030
India’s domestic pharmaceutical market, estimated at $41 billion in 2021, is likely to touch $130 billion by 2030, as per the Economic Survey 2022-23, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. Highlighting the role of the Indian pharmaceuticals industry globally, the Survey showed the country was ranked third worldwide in terms of …
Read More »EDUCATION IN BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS
The budgetary allocation for education as a percentage of total expenditure has dropped over the past seven years, from 10.4% to 9.5%, the Economic Survey, 2022-23 says. While the expenditure on social services increased from ₹9,15,500 crore to ₹21,32,059 crore, the share of education within this umbrella category shrank from …
Read More »HEALTH SPENDING INDIA
Almost half of all health spending in India is still paid by patients themselves directly at the point of treatment, though out-of-pocket expenditure has dropped as the government’s share of spending on health went up significantly after 2013-14, the Economic Survey 2022-23 says. The share of government in the total …
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