Because of its rich natural resources and the new investor friendly development policies, Orissa in recent years has become an attractive investment destination for large corporations, but the increased level of development activity has only led to displacement on a scale much larger than before.

The three rounds of the National Family Health Survey have generated vast amounts of data, which unfortunately have been subject to only limited critical examination by Indian research scholars, though the opposite is the case with scholars outside India.

This paper studies the problem of poor health outcomes in India from the demand side, and using the unit level data from the 60th round of the National Sample Survey analyses the determinants of not accessing medical care. This analysis is confined to persons who have reported being ill within 15 days of the survey but have not sought either public or private professional medical services.

Studies done by scholars like Narayanan (2008), Vijayanand (2008) and Sharif (2008) show that in spite of many limitations the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has become a women's programme. Narayanan and Vijayanand have restricted their study to one state each only, but Sharif has studied seven states.