Health Recently, the government launched the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) aimed at correcting rural inequities in the matter of health. It correctly seeks to integrate health with those essential inputs in health, namely , sanitation, hygiene , safe drinking water, and nutrition. Most of the schemes and programmers initiated by our governments looks good on paper; where they fail is where it really masters-on the ground, in the implementation. The...

The Problems of a Huge Population India’s population, according to census figures, will be somewhere near 1.45 billion by 2035. So we will be the leading country by population in the  world. A dubious distinction at most, despite the optimist’ view that human resources are to be seen as potential and not as a burden.           Can we in reality provide the kind of education and skill development opportunities to these...

Politicians Above the Law Every now and then, we hear someone declare proudly, if a bit self-righteously, that Indian is the biggest democracy. We love to point out that the framers of our Constitutions so that our best ideas and principles from world constitution so that our best ideas and principle from world constitution so that our own  document could be one of the best. Practically all kinds of dangers to...

Terrorism Can never Lead to Democracy The  two slogans are, indeed , contradictory , and yet how often we see that yesterday’s freedom fighter is today’s dictator! The terrorist groups that operate on a worldwide stage today are imbued with this contradiction; not one of them is free of it. Whether it is the LTTE, the ULFA,  the Nasalizes of various hues and shades, or the so-called ‘Islamic’ fundamentalists fighting in...

Protection from Internet Abuse We hardly see teenagers indulging in the outdoor games that they used play once. Cricket (or tennis/football/hockey..)  comes almost every day on television, so does entertainment. And then there is the Internet. If one is not lucky enough to presses a computer of one’s own, there  is always the friendly neighborhood cyber café.  Mother and fathers proudly say their son-a little more rarely, daughter- is glued to...

Laughter, Truth, and Universality Doctors don’t like their ilk to be portrayed in a bad light in fiction or film, at least in India. The same goes for our nurse, teachers, policemen and any number of professionals. And let us not forget lawyers who would readily hold the entire law courts to ransom at the sign of slightest of slights, imagined or real. If one member of any profession is shown...

Morality and Law     POINTS TO DEVELOP Law and morality are not synonymous terms. Differences in perception of ‘morality’. Problems of law enforces becoming immoral as well as illegal in their actions. When state law and morality of certain groups clash, there is a problem. Concept of morality should be widened and should evolve with time. Law is related to morality, but that morality is of a universal kind. It...

Law as an Instrument of Social Change POINTS TO DEVELOP Society changes; contrasts within it. One of the factors responsible for change is government support through legislation. What is law? Law’s necessity. How law has influenced social change in various periods in India. Laws to reform society conspicuous under British rule. Impact of laws on economic status of certain sections of Indian society. Post-independence era: some laws having impact on society. Laws...