The quantity of water in a river is as important as the quality, something the government fails to understand. (Editorial)

An exogenously defined poverty line yields poverty headcounts between any two points in time that are a net outcome of the two-way traffic into and out of poverty. This paper argues that, for the rural Indian context, where housing is too lumpy and illiquid to be used for consumption smoothing, transitions in housing quality in cross-sectional data sets can provide revealed evidence of household perceptions of downside risk to their current consumption levels.

In January 2005, drug product patent protection was reintroduced in India to comply with the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. How are the multinational pharmaceutical companies responding to the new policy environment? Is India likely to see monopolisation of the industry and high prices, which was the pattern before 1972 when India had product patent protection? Will the positive features of the post-1972 process patent era be diluted or negated?

Tertiary care plays an important role in determining the structure of the healthcare system and universal access to it. Breaking away from western-oriented tertiary care medical knowledge, a number of issues have to be rethought to defi ne tertiary care in the Indian setting that can be provided by the existing system. Providing tertiary care with district health services will mutually reinforce both and provide healthcare that is affordable and appropriate to local conditions.

A majority of Indian wildlife scientists are unable to come together to create a united front to add a much-needed conservation focus to policymaking. In an age when we are trying to balance development with protection of forest areas, wildlife biologists need to actively respond to and engage with situations where the wildlife and conservation angles need to be highlighted. They should make the effort to translate science into policy in conjunction with the bureaucracy and actively work towards creating a much-needed platform for collaboration.

A US-based organisation has placed India at as low as 28th among 32 countries in the world with respect to security of nuclear materials. How accurate is the ranking and how justifi ed is the defensive Indian anger at this low ranking?

The Government of India is bent on maligning the struggle against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu because it cannot comprehend that ordinary citizens can understand issues and wage a spirited struggle to protect their lives and livelihoods. One of the leaders of the movement writes about their struggle and addresses the allegation that the protests are being funded by foreign organisations.

Contrary to a common belief that India’s public distribution system is irreparably dysfunctional, a nine-state survey of the pds finds that the respondents received 84-88% of their full entitlement. The implicit subsidy for households below the poverty line from pds foodgrains alone is roughly equivalent, in many states, to a week’s nrega wages every month. The revival of the pds can be traced, in large part, to a renewed political interest which manifests itself in state initiatives such as expanded coverage, reduced prices, computerisation of stock management, etc.

Why is it that the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption does not seek to have the Lokpal cover NGOs, corporate houses and the corporate media?

The new National Vaccine Policy Draft 2011 by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare comes out openly in favour of public-private partnerships and suggests flexible governing and funding mechanisms to support vaccine development in the PPP mode. This article argues that our vaccine policy must look into the health of the children in the country and it should not be overly concerned solely with the viability of the vaccine industry.