APRIL 2018
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C A S E S T U D Y

Puducherry reports among the best health indicators in India. Its infant mortality rate is 16 per 1,000 live births, the same as Vietnam, while India’s average is 41, the same as Ethiopia. Nearly 99.9% of births take place in health institutions and 91.3% of children are immunised, as against the Indian average of 78.4% institutional births and 62% child immunisation. Part of Puducherry’s success is thanks to its small population--it has 1.24 million people (2,598 people/sq km), compared with 16.8 million in Delhi (11,297 people/sq km). At the same time, it prioritises healthcare by spending more per capita on health than other richer states, and leaving no positions vacant in its health administration. IndiaSpend reports from Puducherry.

S P O T L I G H T

How A TV Serial Watched By 400 Million Changed Gender Beliefs

BY SWAGATA YADAVAR

Sneha Mathur, a fictional character from the Hindi heartland in the Doordarshan soap opera Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon (I, a woman, can achieve anything), has become an agent of change in attitudes towards women in many north Indian villages. The fictional young doctor and the stories of her battles against child marriage, early pregnancies, sex selection and domestic abuse were used by an advocacy, Population Foundation of India, as a tool for edutainment. Two seasons of the show, watched by 400 million Indians, have changed many people’s perception of gender rights in villages.


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D A T A F I X

Lakshadweep, Meghalaya Have Most Women Land Holders

BY ANGEL MOHAN AND BHASKER TRIPATHI

More Indian Children Are Getting Basic Vaccines

BY BHASKER TRIPATHI

T H E I NT E R V I E W

India has enrolled more children in secondary schools than ever before, but is failing to teach them what they should be learning, the Annual Survey of Education Reports (ASER) have shown since the first report was published in 2005. The most vulnerable are falling further behind the rest, the surveys, brought out by the education advocacy Pratham, have shown. Rukmini Banerji, Pratham India’s chief executive officer, argues for setting realistic and more meaningful educational goals for children, and a greater focus on the school experience. Read our interview in which Banerji discusses a range of issues from the demographic dividend to children’s own aspirations.

I N T H E N E W S

How India Can Cut Rampant Antibiotic Misuse In Food Animals

BY CHARU BAHRI

Between now and 2030, India will see the highest growth rate in the use of antibiotics on animal farms, according to a new study. Regulations are urgently needed to curb this misuse, which is causing increased microbial resistance to critical, life-saving antibiotics in humans. A limit on the use of veterinary antibiotics and a hike in their prices could reduce drug misuse by 61% by 2030, the study says.

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Six Factors That Could Reduce Malnutrition In Madhya Pradesh

BY PRACHI SALVE

Women’s empowerment, better sanitation and improvement in maternal health could improve the nutritional status of children in Madhya Pradesh (MP), the state where 42% of children under five years of age are stunted, or short for their age--the fifth highest rate in the country--according to an IndiaSpend analysis of 2015-2016 data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). MP has 6.6% of the country’s child population under the age of five, children who will make up 158.7 million of India’s demographic dividend.

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What Surat Can Teach Other Indian Cities About Public Health

BY SWAGATA YADAVAR

How did one of India’s filthiest cities become one of its cleanest? Could the transformation of Surat, the first urban upgrade in Gujarat, explain the support for the BJP in the state’s towns and cities? IndiaSpend visited Surat, 288 km from the state capital of Gandhinagar, to understand this transformation and the lessons it holds for India’s growing cities and towns.

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Have a good governance story that deserves to be featured?
Tell us about it at: samar@indiaspend.org

Sincerely,
Samar Halarnkar
Editor







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