-Livemint.com The best way to double the real incomes of Indian farmers would be to halve their numbers through job creation in other parts of the economy The Narendra Modi government last week announced sharp increases in minimum support prices (MSPs) for a variety of farm products. The move itself is not unexpected. The first sign that the Modi government would shift away from its earlier strategy of minimal hikes to douse...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's largest body of doctors claimed on Tuesday that the Centre's proposed National Health Protection Scheme that seeks to reimburse hospitals for cashless services to patients may "eliminate small and medium hospitals" through unrealistic reimbursement rates. The reimbursement rates proposed under the NHPS are "very low" and will make it "impractical" to provide quality services, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said, releasing figures from its own costing exercise...

-TheWire.in The petition before the apex court had claimed that retrospective amendments to the FCRA were meant to bail out the BJP and Congress, held guilty by the Delhi high court of accepting foreign funding.   New Delhi: The Supreme Court’s notice to the Centre on July 2 seeking a response to a plea alleging that the recent amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010 have opened the doors to...

-The Indian Express Out of the 62 pesticide poisoning deaths reported in Maharashtra last year, 21 were in Yavatmal district alone, which also registered over 800 hospitalisation cases. Nagpur: Maharashtra has banned the sale of five moderately-to-extremely toxic insecticides and cancelled the licences of six Companies for the current kharif season, as part of steps to prevent the recurrence of last year’s pesticide inhalation accidents that caused the deaths of 62 farmers...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: A year ago, when the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act came into force, it was considered a landmark reform that positioned India among the top progressive nations, enabling women to stay in the workforce after childbirth. The well-intentioned amendment entitles working women to a 26-week paid leave, up from the earlier 12 weeks, something that progressive Companies were already offering. With India’s women workforce participation rate dwindling from...