Articles by C Sathyamala

In a polarised climate, a person’s name and attire can make a big difference, including between life and death.

The story of "Bhopal" - of the 30 years of disaster - is not that of corporate crime alone but also that of the nexus between national governments and transnational corporations; of state and capital. And, irrespective of the government in power, the nature of the state has not changed.

The Supreme Court, in its fi nal order of October 1991, upheld the compensation settlement with Union Carbide which made the Government of India liable for any shortfall in compensation or any new claims from the Bhopal gas victims. Following this order the Indian Council of Medical Research disbanded its medical esearch on the long-term medical effects of the disaster. A recent Supreme Court order directs the ICMR to resume that research, but the question that looms is why the ICMR abdicated its ethical mandate and allowed its subordination to a political diktat. Why did the ICMR as aninstitution allow itself to become an apologist of the Indian state?

A bottom-up view of the health conditions and services in six states - three performing and three not-so-well performing ones - was arrived at through a study by a multidisciplinary team with varied experiences in health research. This paper presents the results of a Public Report on Health that was initiated in 2005 to understand public health issues for people from diverse backgrounds living in different region-specific contexts. The findings, which have policy implications, have been used to analyse the ongoing official attempts to deal with the various challenges thrown up by the National Rural Health Mission.

We strongly condemn the inhuman violence inflicted by fundamentalist Hindu organisations against members of the Christian community, largely dalit and tribal, in Orissa and the violation of their places of worship since August 2008.