Women and impoverished, illiterate tribals fall prey to Madhya Pradesh’s overweening family planning zeal
Birth Control

Ever since Anna Hazare’s call for a strong Lokpal bill reached fever-pitch in autumn, and the government bought time with ostensibly conciliatory moves, everyone had been waiting for ‘the due process’ to bear fruit. But the 30-member standing committee chaired by Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, set up to frame a draft bill, is still struggling to evolve anything like a consensus. As we went to press on December 1, an emergency meeting of the committee ended in a stalemate on various contentious issues, with the final touches on the draft still pending.

As many as 46 per cent of the malnourished children of the world—of whom at least 75,000 die every month—are in India. Another alarming official statistic—36 per cent of Indians live on less than Rs 20 a day. One would think figures like this would act as a reality check for a government that proudly chants the aam admi mantra. But they haven’t.

Sparring Points

Besides Lokpal Bill, politicians have sparred with civil society on four key pieces of legislation

The Planning Commission’s definition of poverty is inexplicableIn the urban sprawl that is Delhi, as in any other metro in the country, earning no more than Rs 25 per day with a family to support would prove nightmarish. Food and clothes have to be bought, there may be school-going children, colds, fevers or upset stomachs to get treated, someone with a chronic problem needing long-term treatment. Surely, someone living on Rs 25 a day would qualify as poor. But not by the benchmark set by the Planning Commission and the government of India.

It

Mr Compromised

Vedanta In

A proactive minister puts Paryavaran Bhavan in focus. The development dauphins are aflutter.When did you last hear of an Indian cabinet minister being compared to Muhammad Ali? Well, that

When did you last hear of an Indian cabinet minister being compared to Muhammad Ali? Well, that

Ever since it came into existence 53 years ago by an Act of Parliament, Delhi