Articles by Anant Phadke

About 7,000 rural toilers from south-west Maharashtra congregated in Pune for one of the largest indefinite sit-ins that the state has seen in many decades. The struggle for the right to water and the right to rehabilitation in 13 drought-prone 'talukas' of the state has made a significant contribution: it has joined together the interests of two groups who are considered, traditionally, to be at loggerheads with each other - the dam-affected and the drought-affected.

Introducing the hepatitis B vaccine in the national immunisation programme would not only cost the government more than all the other six vaccines on the programme, but would yield little by way of public health protection.

Independent analysis shows that introducing the Hepatitis-B vaccine in the national immunisation programme will yield small gains at high cost.

In attempting to ensure that the pharmaceutical industry is able to function profitably, and perhaps, efficiently, policy-makers have completely ignored the health concerns that are integrally linked to the contours of the drug policy.