Latest reports by India's National Crime Records Bureau found a seven-fold increase in rape cases between 1971 and 2006. But the agencies that should ensure safe environments for women make excuses for perpetrators and resort to moral policing rather than finding ways to make women safer.

In the Madhya Pradesh state of India, the administration is offering men guns in exchange for vasectomies. But in choosing to meet targets rather than educating communities, the administration is hardening stereotypes of manliness, placing communities in even more vulnerable positions.

The HIV epidemic in India needs to be fought by accessible testing, lessening stigma, widespread education, and needle exchange programs, but above all, it needs to be fought by a humane and scientific prevention program coming from the government.

PEPFAR includes a huge amount of money with a burdensome and ideological list of "do's" and "don'ts." Haven't we seen this before? Read this latest post in our International Women's Health Salon.

In India, women -- viewed as either the husband's or father's property -- cannot make decisions about their own marriages. But a new decision made by Muslim bodies and Islamic scholars says that under Sharia law, a woman cannot be married against her will.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is one of the most closely watched social initiatives in India. While the scheme has the potential to alleviate poverty, it is imperative to study women's participation in the social auditing of the NREGA.

In a veritable export industry, every year over a thousand organs from India go abroad - most of them to Arab countries - even though the domestic demand is far from met. Seventy-one percent of those supplying the organs are women.

Debates on surrogacy in India are bound to be endless. But who is to decide which exploitation is more acceptable? A woman renting her womb or working low-paying jobs in inhuman conditions?

Looking back on the year in Indian women's rights, it's clear that women continue to occupy the role of nurturers and care-providers in every Indian sub-culture, religion or group, robbing them of the ability to nurture and care for themselves. It is time for that to change.