‘Beyond A Billion Ballots’ by Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe was launched at a function at the VIF by former Chief Election Commissioner Dr S Y Quraishi, Political Commentator B V Rao and Ajit Doval, KC, Director, VIF, on September 24, 2013. Addressing a panel discussion on the occasion, Quraishi said while Indian democracy had certain shortcomings, it also has several achievements to its credit such as granting of equal voting rights to women, for which women in other advanced democracies such as US and UK had to struggle for over a century.

Public Money, Private Agenda – The Use and Abuse of MPLADS, a book written by Dr.A.Surya Prakash, Distinguished Fellow, VIF was launched at an impressive function at the VIF by Mr.Shivraj Patil, the Hon’ble Governor of Punjab on Aug 22, 2013. The former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Mr.Purno Sangma presided over the function. Mr.Kishore Chandra Deo, Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs and Mr.Arun Shourie, former Union Minister spoke on the book.

VIF organized Vimarhsa on Saturday, July 20, 2013, where senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani dwelt at length on the topic ‘Institutional Subversion in India – Implications for the Nation and its Security’. In his introductory remarks, Ajit Doval, KC, Director, VIF, regretted that the Indian society was more fragmented than at the time of Independence in 1947. He said there appeared to be some invisible hand that gave impetus to anything divisive and weakened anything that united.

Today the health infrastructure of India is in pathetic condition, it needs radical reforms to deal with new emerging challenges. On the one hand the role of private players is continuously increasing in healthcare sector, but simultaneously healthcare facilities are getting costly, and becoming non-accessible for the poor. The government hospitals are facing the problem of lack of resources and infrastructure; there are inadequate number of beds, rooms, and medicines. In this research paper the authors have discussed the present scenario of healthcare facilities and personnel.