IIPS: Centre accepts resignation of Malayali director, revokes suspension

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has accepted the resignation of KS James, a Malayali, from the post of director of the International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, which prepares the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), and has issued an order withdrawing the suspension in his name. Since resigning in August, James has been a visiting scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Vienna.

James was suspended on July 28 last year after some figures that the central government did not want appeared in the fifth National Family Health Survey. Subsequently, the suspension order was withdrawn after he resigned in August.

The central government had informed that it had received 35 complaints against James regarding some appointments and in 11 of them the fact-finding committee upheld the allegations. But IIPS has not explained what the 11 allegations are.

Denying claims by the central government, the survey found that India has not achieved full open defecation status, 19 per cent households do not have a toilet and anemia has increased in the country. The survey also came up with findings that debunked the claims related to the Ujjwal Yojna, the government's flagship scheme.