Feature Article

Heavy rains continued to lash Saurashtra and Kachchh region of the country, forcing the Gujarat government to issue alert for 96 dams across the state on September 5. The torrential rains also damaged a gate that regulated flow of water, of Saani river dam in Jamnagar district. This resulted in 45 million cubic metres of water being released from the dam, leading to flood-like situation in eight villages downstream. The dam was repaired last year at a cost of Rs 1 crore.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has told the Madhya Pradesh High Court in an affidavit that the DRDO facility at Nagpur has neither the requisite infrastructure nor the storage facilities for handling toxic waste from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. What's more, the incinerator at the facility has been non-functional for the past two years.

A soybean seed racket has been unearthed in Akola, Maharashtra. The scam comes on the heels of the large scale soy seed germination failure in the state and further erodes the credibility of government seed corporations. (Read: Seeds of failure)

The anti-corruption campaign has shown that a desperate public demands an immediate solution. Citizens have got a taste of direct democracy which is frightening for the privileged manipulators of the system, but liberating for the poor who are usually manipulated. While what the future holds cannot be predicted, the prize at this juncture of the history of Indian democracy is indeed so great that the compulsion in favour of the Jan Lokpal Bill is overwhelming.

The Jan Lokpal Bill epitomises the ultimate faith of the ordinary citizens, born out of utter despair, in an omnipotent authority – the Lokpal. But mere legislation cannot bring about reforms, without accompanying mass struggles to get them implemented by the executive agencies and grass roots movements to change social habits. The forces of corruption which are deeply embedded in our society will not give up easily, and are powerful enough to frustrate and resist the provisions of any Lokpal Bill.

Rice is the primary source of food for billions of people in developing countries, yet the commonly consumed polished grain contains insufficient levels of the key micronutrients iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and Vitamin A to meet daily dietary requirements. Experts estimate that a rice-based diet should contain 14.5 µg g−1 Fe in endosperm, the main constituent of polished grain, but breeding programs have failed to achieve even half of that value.

Protecting citizens against the financial consequences of illness has long been a key objective of health systems worldwide. In the United Kingdom for example, financial protection—which refers to how far people are protected from the financial consequences of illness—was the fundamental goal when the National Health Service was established in 1948, more than health improvement or equitable access to health care.

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS in 2001 was a critical event that dramatically enhanced the global AIDS response. Ten years later, the September 2011 UN High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control provides a similar opportunity for the international community and national stakeholders to raise awareness and launch an effective global response to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). It is an opportunity that should not be missed as it will not likely occur again.

Several sub-Saharan African countries have rapidly scaled up the number of households that own insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs). Although the efficacy of ITNs in trials has been shown, evidence on their impact under routine conditions is limited to a few countries and the extent to which the scale-up of ITNs has improved population health remains uncertain.