SPRF
Conference of Parties: A Talk Shop? The 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties [COP] was held in Sharm-El Sheikh, Egypt, between November 6 and November 18, 2022. Although touted as the authority on climate action decision-making, the long-term effects of COP remain to be seen. Over the years, representatives have repeatedly called for […]
ABSTRACT On 11th May 2022, the Supreme Court passed an order allowing the central government to reconsider the sedition law. The apex court directed that in the meantime, all pending sedition trials should be kept in abeyance and stated that it hopes and expects the government not to register any new sedition cases or carry […]
The Electoral Promise of Farm Loan Waivers Farmers and other agricultural stakeholders make up a significant portion of the voting population. Therefore, their issues remain an essential part of the electoral discourse. Farm loan waivers appear to be a favourite pre-election announcement among political parties in response to the growing agrarian distress. The 2021 National […]
Context In December 2021, the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare of India, Dr Bharti Praveen Pawar, announced that 13.01 lakh doctors were registered under the Indian Medical Registry (Pawar, 2021). Of these, around 80% or 10.41 lakh doctors were practising in India (National Medical Commission, n.d.). The World Health Organisation [WHO] recommends […]
A 2022 IMF working paper authored by Surjit Bhalla, Karan Bhasin, and Arvind Vimani has discussed how extreme poverty has been almost entirely eradicated in India (Bhalla et al., 2022). The World Bank (2015) categorises those in ‘extreme poverty’ as those who live on less than US $1.9 purchasing power parity [PPP] per day globally. […]
INTRODUCTION Ayushman Bharat, an umbrella scheme that included other major Publicly Funded Health Insurances [PFHI] schemes, was launched in 2018 by the Union government. The vision was one of achieving universal health coverage (National Health Authority, n.d.). The flagship scheme contains two components, health and wellness centres [HWCs] and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana […]
Introduction: The Invisible Work of Women in India Due to the traditional division of labour, women and girls majorly perform unpaid household chores such as cooking, cleaning, and care work. According to the recent National Statistical Office (2020) report on time use in India, women spend close to 5 hours (299 minutes) per day on […]
Context According to the Sample Registration System [SRS], in India, between 2016-2018, the maternal mortality ratio [MMR] was 113 deaths per 10,000 live births – a decrease from 130 deaths per 10,000 live births between 2014-2016 (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 2021a). The government’s multi-pronged policy aims to curb home births and increase institutional […]
INTRODUCTION The IPCC’s sixth assessment report, “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis” (IPCC 2021), tells us that “the climate catastrophe timer is about to go off and we don’t have much time”. The report highlights that countries do not have the luxury to forgo climate concerns for the sake of economic growth. The obstacle […]
INTRODUCTION Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repeal of the contentious farm laws on 19 November 2021 and urged the protesting farmers to return home. These three bills, namely, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020, and […]
INTRODUCTION The importance of water, sanitation, and hygiene, collectively known as WASH, has been stressed ever since the unprecedented rise of COVID-19. The emphasis was especially seen in urban centres where “inadequate sanitation” across informal settlements is an issue of concern. Often addressed as “messy and hidden”, migration and informal settlements that house rural migrants […]
Altruistic suicide is when someone sacrifices their life to save or benefit someone else’s. In India, particularly in Maharashtra’s agrarian-crisis impacted regions, news reports a worsening mental health crisis. This increases altruistic suicides rates among children. This commentary explores the depth of mental health challenges that farmer’s children face. The discussion highlights the role of […]
CONTEXT An estimated 15.20 crore children were involved in child labour globally in 2016. Of this number, 8.8 crore were boys and 6.4 crore were girls. A staggering 48% of these children were 5 to 11 years old, while 12 to 14 and 15 to 17 age groups stood estimatedly at 28% and 24%, respectively […]
INTRODUCTION The second wave of COVID-19 ruptured families across India. Despite widespread media coverage, the conversation overlooked a demographic worst affected by it, namely children. According to a Lancet study by Bachman et al. (2021), last year saw 11,34,000 children lose their primary caregivers to COVID-19 globally. This figure includes at least one parent or […]