Using the latest National Sample Survey Office data on land distribution and use, questions of agrarian change in India are revisited. With reducing landholding size in general, the increasing unviability of such small plots, and increasing numbers of "effectively" landless households, the larger questions of employment and sectoral shifts are flagged. There is still no clear transition away from agriculture.

After 2010, two Indian generic companies started local plants in South Africa, attempted to partake in the morally loaded politics of antiretroviral therapy, and complied with broader affirmative action policies there. This article analyses a variety of sources and tries to lay bare the nexus between drug manufacturers, the state, and civil society organisations and tries to contextualise them in the anthropological theories of public health and humanitarian aid.

There has been no significant change in the knowledge-base and institutional structure for managing water systems since colonial rule. This makes the recent efforts of the Ministry of Water Resources for restructuring the Central Water Commission and the Central Ground Water Board significant. This article argues that the effort should be backed by interdisciplinary studies that see surface water and groundwater as ecologically connected.

Forty of India's biggest energy companies are being investigated by a wing of the Union Ministry of Finance for over-invoicing of imported coal. The artificially higher prices of coal have been passed on to electricity consumers across the country. The scam is conservatively estimated by government officials at no less than ₹29,000 crore, a third of which is in the form of higher power tariffs. Big names from the corporate sector, notably the Adani Group and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, are being probed for their alleged involvement in the scandal. An exclusive report.

India and Japan have reportedly reached a preliminary understanding to sign a civil nuclear cooperation agreement after certain technical details are finalised. However domestic politics of Japan, anti-nuclear groups and India’s reluctance to join the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty are some of the concerns that would have to be addressed before the deal is finalised.

For over 30 years pharmaceutical companies have been selling fixed-dose combination drugs with scant need to justify their efficacy, safety or rationality for use. The Government of India has finally banned 344 such drugs, though pharma companies have been able to obtain interim judicial stay orders. It is hoped that the courts take into account the serious public health implications of the sale of certain drugs and allow regulatory intervention banning uncertified combination drugs, including codeine-based cough syrups and various cold and flu drugs.

The leak at Kakrapar has been plugged but it is yet another reminder of the risks nuclear reactors pose. (Editorial)

While the finance minister took care to express the commitment of his government to poor and vulnerable people while presenting the Union Budget for 2016–17, this stated commitment has not been backed by adequate increases in allocations to areas of critical interest to the poor. It is likely that resource constraints will continue to be a serious hindrance in important areas like nutrition, health and livelihood support. (Letter)

The provision of low-cost sanitary napkins to women in rural areas is not an answer to the myriad problems they face in menstrual management. Apart from the need for a mechanism for ensuring the quality of the products and reducing the environmental cost of non-reusable products, the need is for a change in the attitude towards menstruation. It is because this is a taboo topic ruled by religio-cultural conventions that rural women face not only discomfort but also problems linked to reproductive health.

The Rapid Survey on Children shows a new trend of an increased access to healthcare by marginalised communities like Dalits, Adivasis and Other Backward Classes which have made substantial gains in the last decade. However much needs to be achieved in the realm of nutrition and sanitation where these communities remain acutely deprived.