Based on the primary data for 499 patients, 135 IPD and 364 OPD, in 62 hospitals across all the 20 districts in Punjab, the study discovered that contrary to the popular notion, the satisfaction level of the patients with the services delivered at hospitals managed by Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) was significantly high on most of the parameters. Both outdoor patients and indoor patients found the location of the hospitals accessible, diagnostic facilities in order, and quality of medical care satisfactory. There were, of course, some difficulties faced in respect of availability of medicines from within the hospitals, delay in obtaining the reports of diagnostic tests, and laxity in emergency cases. Many of the identified areas for quality improvement are related to the time factor and non-availability of medicines at the hospitals. The escalating costs involved in the purchase of medicines from the market emerged as a cause of worry for every patient. Indications are that the institutions like PHSC can be more effective than the conventional Health Departments in the delivery of health services especially to the patients belonging to the poor strata of society. This is endorsed by nine out of every ten patients who felt that the services offered at the private hospitals were unaffordable and beyond their reach. Moreover, a mismatch between the huge amount of money spent and the quality of services received impelled many of them to seek the services of a government hospital. The indispensability of the role of the public sector in health care in the Indian context cannot be missed.

This study is devoted to highlighting the temporal trends and spatial variations in the concentration and growth of the major religious groups in India with special reference to the Sikh population. Such studies are gaining importance with the increasing penetration of both the religion and caste-composition in the political environment of the country. Although religious and caste interventions in politics are prevalent in all the elections, these become stronger as we move down from Parliamentary to Panchayat elections in which the voting pattern changes in favour of religion and caste groups. It has been observed that the share of Muslim population increased by 5.96% between 2001 and 2011, while it declined in the case of all other communities and the maximum decline (−8.02%) was noticed in the case of the Sikh population with the lowest share among all the major religious communities in India. The Sikh population also recorded the lowest growth rate of 8.42% against 24.65% and 16.76% witnessed by Muslims and Hindus respectively between2001 and 2011. The study is based on the religious data released by the Census of India.

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The present study aims to assess the composition of VHSNCs; to assess the functioning of VHSNCs and find out the deviations, if any, from the prescribed framework of guidelines and, to understand awareness of VHSNC members about their roles. The proposed study is based on primary data collected with the help of structured questionnaire. The data was collected from one hundred Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees in Punjab. Four districts of the Punjab state were selected randomly from each direction i.e North, South, East and West. The districts selected were Gurdaspur, Mansa, Mohali and Firozpur from North, South, East and West direction respectively. The study reveals that sampled VHSNCs in Punjab have 12 members per VHSNC. One-fourth of the chairpersons of the VHSNCs in Punjab were illiterate Only 23 per cent of the VHSNCs claimed to have prepared the village health plan. Meetings were organized on monthly basis in only half of the expected meetings per VHSNC. Large number of members was not attending the meetings organised by VHSNCs in Punjab. Majority of the funds received by VHSNCs was utilized for sanitation and cleanliness of the village. Majority of members were not aware about the components and objectives of VHSNC. All members reported that the untied fund is always helpful in solving the issues and problems of the village and the amount of untied fund given to VHSNCs should be increased.

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