Rising prices of dal: How to deal with it? The 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses. In India, however, ordinary citizens are under enormous duress due to the skyrocketing prices of dal/ lentils since the last one year. The website of Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs shows that dal prices varied across places. For example, the...

-Business Standard Pulses acreage in the current Kharif season is almost 40 per cent more than last year and is even more than the average area covered in last five years The stupendous increase in sowing of pulses during the ongoing kharif season didn't escape Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s eye. During his Independence Day speech, the PM commended farmers for raising the area under pulses this season to almost 1.5 times more...

-Hindustan Times The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on governments to incorporate pro-women fiscal measures in budgets, so as to bridge the gender GAP. In its first-ever global review of the use of tax and spending policies to promote gender equality, IMF has found that financial policies in Union and state budgets have helped gender parity. Highlighting changes across 80 countries, the IMF study, Tackling Gender Inequality, says fiscal policy efforts were...

-PTI Vegetable prices rose up to 100% in the April-July period due to low arrivals of the harvest in mandis, Assocham said In a "most worrying" sign for consumers, the prices of vegetables in retail markets are likely to shoot up further in coming months as the 'peak production season' came to an end, says a report. In the shorter horizon, there will be "more pressure on the market arrivals of vegetables as...

-The Hindu The Mental Health Care Bill, 2016, passed by the Rajya Sabha is a watershed legislation that lays down clear responsibilities for the state and has provisions that empower individuals and families. Crucially, it can expand access to treatment, which is dismally poor today. According to a recent review in The Lancet, of GAPs in mental health treatment, although both India and China have renewed their commitment to address the...