-The Hindu This month marks the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to dramatically improve lives across the world by 2030. This month marks the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to dramatically improve lives across the world by 2030. The SDGs will help countries frame their policies and strategies towards achieving these mutually agreed upon goals and targets. SDG 3, which aims to ensure good...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: An NGO has questioned a move to have national security adviser Ajit Doval address a conclave of Supreme Court judges today without a counterbalancing presence of human rights activists to present an alternative view. In a letter to Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms has argued that the three-day judges' retreat in Bhopal that ends tomorrow should also invite rights activists...

-The Hindu Business Line Timely interventions through medical innovations can transform the lives of mothers and children, not simply save them A couple of years ago, I was in a primary health centre delivery room in Shivgarh and saw a beaming mother with her three-hour-old baby girl happily feeding at the breast. Three hours earlier, this contented baby was born without a cry, still, and blue in colour. Fortunately, the midwife present,...

-The Hindu Structural reforms and improving productive capacity can enhance long-term growth NITI Aayog, the government’s policy think tank, is working on a sector-based medium-term planning framework, Union Finance Secretary Ratan P. Watal told a meeting of state finance secretaries on Monday. The new planning framework could replace five-year plans, the last of which is set to end in 2016—17, Mr. Watal said. It was possible to synchronise with the finance commission cycle,...

-The Hindu 80% not covered by any insurance, dependent on private sector for treatment. Over 80 per cent of India’s population is not covered under any health insurance scheme, says the latest National Sample Survey (NSS) released on Monday. The data reveals that despite seven years of the Centre-run Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), only 12 per cent of the urban and 13 per cent of the rural population had access to...