Welfare Programs India

India's government has slashed defense spending and diverted funds to fight hunger and illiteracy and provide housing for the homeless. The unprecedented reduction in defense spending was contained in the government's budget for 1989-90, introduced in Parliament by Finance Minister S. B. Chavan. India will spend $133 million less on defense in the 1989-90 fiscal year compared to the previous year, Chavan said. He pledged to spend $1.

The scene at the Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic, in the heart of Bombay's red-light district, provided painful proof that India is losing the battle with AIDS. It was a Tuesday, and two hours are set aside every Tuesday for prostitutes to come in for blood tests and counseling. Dr. Geeta Bhave and her staff of female doctors from the government's only AIDS surveillance center were chatting in the doctors' meeting room.

The scene at the Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic, in the heart of Bombay's red-light district, provided painful proof that India is losing the battle with AIDS. It was a Tuesday, and two hours are set aside every Tuesday for prostitutes to come in for blood tests and counseling. Dr. Geeta Bhave and her staff of female doctors from the government's only AIDS surveillance center were chatting in the doctors' meeting room.

India's government has slashed defense spending and diverted funds to fight hunger and illiteracy and provide housing for the homeless. The unprecedented reduction in defense spending was contained in the government's budget for 1989-90, introduced in Parliament by Finance Minister S. B. Chavan. India will spend $133 million less on defense in the 1989-90 fiscal year compared to the previous year, Chavan said. He pledged to spend $1.

Deo Man Limbu sat in a veterans hall lined with pictures of old soldiers and reflected on his years of service, his battles and his dreams. The retired major with Britain's legendary Gurkhas faced the Argentines in the 1982 Falklands War, when being a member of one of the world's most feared fighting forces had its advantages. Well before hostilities started, British military planners had encouraged photographs of Gurkhas sharpening their fearsome curved knives — no one seemed to ask why you'd bring a knife to a gunfight — and media stories about their fighting prowess.