Why Montek Singh Ahluwalia is at the receiving end whenever he puts out any figures on poverty reduction

Moving towards major reforms, the Centre is in the process of rolling out a universal health coverage package in at least one district in each State on an experimental basis.

This would include a clearly defined basket of services to those who come to any public health facility for treatment or free supply of generic drugs, doing away with user charges and upgrading public health infrastructure right from the primary to tertiary levels. The private sector would have a role to play only when needed.

Centre to set targets and give funds operational plan to come from states

The Planning Commission will give a big thrust on health through a much wider programme than the existing National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), in the 12th five-year Plan that begins from today. It would be a pan-India programme, meant to incentivise states to increase their annual spending on health.

The Planning Commission on Thursday approved Tripura’s Plan outlay of Rs 2,250 crore for 2012-13, which is 15.38 per cent higher than the allocation for this fiscal.

“The annual Plan size of Rs 2,250 crore for the year 2012-13 for Tripura was finalised here at a meeting between Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Tripura Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar,” an official statement said here.

Grappling with the Supreme Court order to set up a special committee for implementation of the rivers inter-linking project, the Water Resources Ministry is consulting the Law Ministry on seeking a review of the order.

The Ministry, it is reliably learnt, is seeking opinion for review of the mammoth committee that has to be set up under the directions of the court. Not only does it want the numbers pruned but also keep non-official members out so that the secrecy of the decisions can be maintained.

Lucknow Uttar Pradesh’s bleeding power sector can breathe a sigh of relief from the never-ending saga of resource crunch, pressure from financial institutions and day-to-day exercise of managing funds for virtually everything, thanks to the Centre’s approval in principle for a R15,000-crore financial restructuring plan spanned over a period of 10 years by a consortium of 21 banks, which would provide the loan amount over the next three years.

5.5 per cent of the Indian population is already aged over 65 years

The World Health Organisation's theme on the upcoming World Health Day this year is “Ageing and Health”. According to Census 2011 data, 5.5 per cent of the Indian population is already aged over 65 years. While this means that the average life expectancy has increased, it also means India is faced with the challenge of providing the elderly with a dignified, relatively independent, and consistently healthy lifestyle.

New Delhi All public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the power transmission sector, including intra-state transmission networks, will now qualify for government grants under the viability-gap funding (VGF) scheme, making them attractive to private sector investors.

The VGF scheme, finalised by the finance ministry few years back to promote investment in the infrastructure sector, involves central assistance in the form of grant for capital expenditure up to 20% of the project cost, while the state government — being one of the owners — could also provide a matching grant with a ceiling of another 20% of the project cost.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is UPA's man with the political Midas touch. He needs to lend some of that magic to lift the economy out of its morass.

Gangtok: The poverty level in Sikkim has gone down with 80,000 people now living below poverty line, according to the new official estimates for 2009-2010 released by the Planning Commission.

While in 2004-2005, poverty level in Sikkim stood at 30.9 per cent with 1,70,000 people living under BPL, in the wake of the intense poverty alleviation programme initiated by the government, it has been significantly reduced in both urban and rural areas, official sources said.