Although there is sufficient data and evidence available in the public domain to argue whether there has been halving of poverty between 1990 and 2015, the same cannot be said with conviction about the halving of hunger—one of the targets set under the erstwhile Millennium Development Goals framework (replaced recently by SDGs). This is because the recently released data by the National Family Health Survey-4 (conducted in 2015-16) and the...

-The Hindu An all-woman team of reporters finds a massive online readership in the Bundelkhand region of northern India A homemade drone is shot down because the police think it belongs to the IS. A temple is built for a dacoit and his wife. A group of journalists are stalked for months until their story goes viral on the internet, after which a sleepy police station immediately swings into action. Reporting is...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Government scientists have released to industry a portable instrument that they say can detect within 45 seconds some of the commonest contaminants used to adulterate milk in the country. Developed at the Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute in Pilani, Rajasthan, the instrument automatically scans milk samples for detergent, urea, soap, soda and salt without the need to employ technicians. Milk samples are now routinely tested through a range of...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The crisis in the country's farmland has taken out one of the biggest spenders of the economy from the demand-supply chain - farmers. The agrarian economy employs more than 50 per cent of the workforce and therefore, affects a large number of total consumers in the economy. Its conspicuous absence has resulted in weak aggregate earnings performance by India Inc, especially in the consumer durables, staples and auto...

-The Hindu Mumbai: Ex-Chief Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi says a transparent procedure should be followed in the selection process. Alarmed at speculation that Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi could be appointed Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission, RTI activist and former CIC Shailesh Gandhi on Thursday shot off a letter to the Centre objecting to the appointment. In a letter to Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha, Mr. Gandhi said: “There are news reports...