Three Overlooked Serious Reasons: Why India’s Healthcare Indicators Remain Abysmal?

The Union government wants to subsidise healthcare and at the same time cut health spending. Still, money is just part of the problem.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government announced in July that it would roll out a National Health Assurance Mission, whose aim would be to provide some free medical services to reduce “out of pocket spending on healthcare by the common man”.

Was Bengaluru Blast A 'Trail Run' For A Bigger Attack?

Was the bomb explosion outside the Coconut Grove restaurant on Church Street, Bengaluru, on Sunday a trial run for bigger strikes?

While the Bengaluru police and investigation agencies are on a multi-level probe to find the cause of attack and the men behind it, intelligence sources and experts are of the opinion that the blast could have been a bid to check the alertness of security forces.

Book Excerpt: After Being Jailed, The Nightmare For Chhatisgarh's Dr.Binayak Sen’s Most Disturbed Family

In her book ‘Inside Chhattisgarh’, Dr Binayak Sen’s wife Ilina Sen talks of their lives as activists and the persecution they were subjected to.

On December 24, 2010, Binayak Sen, the Chhattisgarh-based doctor, public health specialist and activist, was convicted of sedition by a Raipur Sessions Court and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court granted him bail on April 15, 2011, and his appeal against his conviction is still pending. His wife and fellow-activist Ilina Sen recounts the early days of the nightmare. 

Sterilisation: Does Government Even Care About Women?

The government of India needs to set up a high-level body to review the entire family planning programme to make it more gender-sensitive.

Jitni Devi broke down as she narrated her experiences in a sterilisation camp in Kaparfora Bihar in January 2012, where 53 women were operated upon at night in the light of a torch in a filthy and dilapidated school, by a doctor who did not even care to wash his hands or even change his gloves during the procedure. 

When benches ran out, women who had undergone the surgery were made to lie down in an open yard, even when some were bleeding and still in pain. Jitni Devi was already pregnant and miscarried soon after.

Big Worry: 'Household Debt Is Growing 10 Times In Metros'

India is slowly becoming a heavily indebted country with the average amount owed by each family jumping a whopping seven times in urban areas and more than four times in the hinterland during the period 2002 and 2012, shows a survey by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO).

In 2012, as much as 22% of urban households were indebted and the average debt per family was Rs 84,625, up from Rs 11,771 in 2002, while in rural areas, 31% of households were indebted compared to 27% in 2002 with average debt rising to Rs 32,522 in 2012 from Rs 7,539 in 2002.

After Gujarat, Now In Kerala, VHP 'Converts' Christians

A report about 35 people getting converted to Hinduism would be probed by a senior police official, Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said. The conversion reportedly took place in Alappuzha and Kollam districts.

In Alappuzha, members of eight Christian families - a total of 30 people - reportedly embraced Hinduism at a temple function organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). In Kollam, there were five people who reportedly became Hindus.

Five Lakh For Christmas Conversion Mission: RSS Seeks Donations For 'Ghar Vapsi' Drive

Undettered by the backlash it is facing in Parliament, the Dharam Jagran Samiti, an offshoot of the RSS, is marching ahead to meet its target of 'converting' one lakh Muslims and one lakh Christians in a year.

To achieve this, the organisation is seeking massive funding from their well-wishers as the rate for conversion, according to this report, ranges from Rs 2 lakh for a Christian individual and Rs 5 lakh for a Muslim.

Think & Act: First Agra, Next Aligarh: Get ready For Your City For Hinduvta 'Reconversion Drive'

The issue of reconversion – or ghar wapasi -  as the proponents of the exercise would like to call it, is likely to keep western Uttar Pradesh on the boil for the rest of this year. After Agra, the Bajrang Dal and the Hindu Jagaran Manch are planning a similar campaign in Aligarh on Christmas day. The overt communal nature of the exercise is expected to have political repercussions too.

Although the Bharatiya Janata Party does not officially endorse such campaigns, one of its firebrand MPs, Mahant Adityanath of Gorakhpur better known as Yogi Adityanath, has been actively involved in such campaigns for many years.

Why The Central Security Forces Called 'Foster Forces'?

All 14 of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troops killed in the Maoist ambush on December 1 died on the scrubby, hill-ringed battleground, deep in the forests of Sukma district, at the southern tip of Chhattisgarh. The last to die was constable Deepak Kumar. The Maoists had struck between 10 and 11 am. It was 9:30 pm when Deepak died. For more than 10 hours, the 22-year-old lay there, helplessly wounded and heavily bleeding.

“Had a chopper arrived on time, he could have been saved,” says a CRPF commandant. An IAF chopper requisitioned by the CRPF did arrive for evacuation of the wounded—but only the next afternoon and at the Chintagufa camp, some 10 km from the ambush spot.

Chhattisgarh Naxal Attack: Did CRPF Walk Into A Trap?

Yet another Maoist attack on security forces in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh underlines the glaring truth that security forces are waging a battle already lost in the Maoist heartland, where the latter repeatedly emphasize their supremacy by killing jawans in big numbers.

In the latest ambush in the forest of Elamgunda in the Chintagufa area in Sukma district (South Bastar), more than 400 kms from the state capital Raipur, as many as 14 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, including two key officials - deputy commandant DC Verma and assistant commandant Rajeev Kapuria – have been killed. How many more jawans will have to die before the government realises that its efforts don’t measure up to the challenge posed by the Maoists?

Shocking: Odisha Doctor Uses Bicycle Pumps For Sterilisation, Inflates Women Abdomen During Laproscopic Tubectomy

It seems no lesson has been learnt from the horrific Chhattisgarh sterilisation tragedy where about 13 women lost their lives. A new case has emerged in Bhubaneswar wherein a doctor used a bicycle pump to inflate the abdomen of 56 women while conducting laparoscopic tubectomy on them. This has triggered public outrage in the area, officials said. 

The doctor Mahesh Prasad Rout operated the women at a sterilisation camp organised by local authorities at Banarpal village, about 150 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.

Sterilization Deaths In India: The Undetected Affair Of Family Planning Process

The death of 14 women in Chhattisgarh following botched sterilization procedures has rightfully led to furore across the country. But a detailed, historical analysis of family planning as it has evolved, exposes an inherent and sustained gender bias in policy as well as practice.

he tragedy in a sterilisation camp in Chhattisgarh, where 14 women lost their lives post tubectomy conducted under horrific conditions, calls for a deeper look into the context. Such an exercise would reveal that this has been happening for decades ever since family planning strategies began focussing on women as targets of the government’s agenda on quantitative cutting down of population, with little or no regard to the quality of lives of the people targeted.

Liberals Beware: Modi Govt Is Sangh’s Stepping Stone To Social, Cultural Domination

The RSS has never had it so good since its inception in 1925. It has a government that is dominated by the BJP at the Centre. At least half of the council of ministers in the Modi regime have either emerged from the Sangh or are its supporters. 

And unlike another Sangh originate and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee---considered a moderate among hardliners--Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen as an unadulterated embodiment of all that the Sangh stands for. Could the Sangh ask for more?

Counterfeit Drugs Menace: Why Chhattisgarh Sterilisation Tragedy May Happen Again?

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.

In January this year, Dr R K Gupta was honoured by the Government of Chhattisgarh for performing 50,000 laparoscopic tubectomies. 10 months later, he was arrested under charges of causing death by negligence in the same procedure he was once lauded for. On 10 November, Gupta defied government medical protocol and conducted 83 laparoscopic tubectomies in just five hours in a mass sterilisation camp organised by the Government of Chhattisgarh. This fateful stint left 13 women dead and many others battling for their lives.

Crime Focus: Among top motives for murder in India: witchcraft

Personal vendetta, love affairs and property disputes are the other top reasons.

In an age in which India has sent a mission to Mars, witchcraft is still among the top 11 motives for murder in the nation, according to National Crime Records Bureau data for 2013.

Last year, the data says, there were 33,201 murders and another 3,380 cases of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Personal vendetta, love affairs and property disputes were the top reasons for the murders. Witchcraft was the motive for 160 deaths. In the last decade, 32,000-34,000 people on average were murdered every year.

Abortions In India: A Question Of Who And How?

A proposal to let Ayush practitioners do abortions sets off a spirited debate.

A final decision is still awaited, but the proposal is fraught in controversy. The Union health ministry under the new BJP-led government wants to allow nurses, midwives and practitioners of ayurveda, unani, siddha and homoeopathic medicine (Ayush) to perform abortions using both medical and surgical methods. This means medics with little or no training in modern surgical practice will be performing operations that could involve life-endangering situations. Many in the medical fraternity are alarmed; they take consolation only in the fact that the ministry has elicited people’s views on its website.

A BJP MP in Bastar is washing people's feet and stirring resentment against Christians

Over the last few months, Hindutva groups have stepped up their activities in Chhattisgarh’s tribal region, leading to attacks on church-goers.

On Friday, when thousands participated in the Run for Unity in New Delhi, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the residents of Madhota village in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district ran around the courts in Jagdalpur to deal with the fallout of the social divide deepened by the visit of the local Bharatiya Janta Party MP.

On October 9, on the invitation of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Dinesh Kashyap, the BJP MP from Bastar, came to the village, washed the feet of 35 people and announced their return to the Hindu fold.

Stevia, the leafy green sweetener for diabetics

EXCLUSIVE: Stevia, may be touted as a healthy herbal alternative sweetener to sugar for treatment of many ailments but as per law it cannot be used or sold as additive in food products. 

In fact, those selling it in any form that is meant for consumption are violating the law, said VN Gaur, chairperson of the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). There have been many complaints that some unapproved food items, ingredients, food additives etc. are being used in preparation of food products or being sold as such. 

Security Personnel: The Planning For A 'Safe' Elections

By Likha Veer | INNLIVE Bureau

Politicians are busy either lauding or criticising Mr. Narendra Modi. We, the junta, are busy clicking selfies at poll booths. And the media is busy deciding if NDA will win over 300 seats or will AAP spoil everyone’s party. Amidst the entire hullabaloo what all of us have overlooked is the contribution of the security personnel deployed across the country.

The voting for 16th Lok Sabha elections has been split into 9 phases for a reason. This is arguably the largest democratic exercise in the entire planet, and ensuring it is safe and secure is a gargantuan challenge.

How BJP Duped EC With White Lotus, Varanasi On Polling?

By M H Ahssan | INNLIVE

EYE OPENER When the Election Commission finally filed an FIR against Narendra Modi on 30 April for waving a white lotus around while addressing a press conference, it wasn't like the BJP, its prime ministerial candidate and pretty much every party hadn't already been making the most of loopholes in its model code of conduct. 

The case that was finally lodged against Modi was under sections 126- 1(a) 126- 1(b) of the Representatives of People's Act for holding up the party symbol while addressing a press conference. He now faces a maximum punishment of up to 2 years in jail or could be let off with a rap on the knuckles and a fine.