-Livemint.com The government should put greater emphasis on behaviour change than construction of toilets In 2014, more than half of India’s population still practised open defecation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi set his government the goal of making the country open defecation-free in five years, by the 150th anniversary of M.K. Gandhi’s birthday in 2019, by launching the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA). Three years later, we are more than halfway into that period,...

-The Hindu NIN centenary year fete begins with release of report on urban health Hyderabad: One-sixth of India’s adult male population smokes tobacco while nearly a third consumes alcohol, suggest latest findings from the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN). The city-based national-level institute kick-started its centenary year on Tuesday with release of a report on urban health. During Tuesday’s Foundation Day gathering, the institute felicitated its former directors, including some of the first scientists...

-The Times of India RANCHI: Several men in the city were in for a surprise on Sunday morning when Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) personnel forcibly took away their lungis as punishment for defecating in the open. The clothes were given back only after they took a pledge never to answer the call of nature in the open. Part of RMC's campaign `Halla Bol Lungi Khol Abhiyan' which was launched on Sunday ,...

-Livemint.com Despite the construction sector being in the doldrums, personal housing was holding its own—till demonetisation Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to create 10 million jobs in five years while campaigning in the 2014 general election. After completing more than three years in office, has the government been able to deliver? We do not know for sure. Findings of a large-sample survey on employment, conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO),...

-The Indian Express Cash transfers instead of food has been widely debated with several criticising it for not being an actual substitute for take-home rations, which is a mix of cereals, fats, sugar and pulses, with added micronutrients. In a major policy shift, the Ministry of Woman and Child Development (WCD) has prepared a proposal to substitute take-home rations, given in aanganwadis for infants under three and pregnant and lactating mothers,...