-The Indian Express Within overall food inflation, the price of pulses, fats and vegetables rose quicker than that of cereals. The result is that fewer people can buy these foods. As India’s 70th year of Independence begins, widespread progress is evident, but in rural India, where 833 million Indians (70 per cent) live, people are consuming fewer nutrients than are required to stay healthy, according to a National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Bihar has been battling floods despite receiving less than normal rains this year. Long at the receiving end due to release of water from Nepal, this time though the blame lies squarely on mismanagement of a dam and a barrage in neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. The situation has become so bad in the past four days that state chief minister Nitish Kumar...

-The New Indian Express HYDERABAD: A few select government school students in the city will now be served breakfast thanks to Akshya Patra’s efforts. The NGO  will provide breakfast at 20 government schools in Hyderabad from September. “We will give idly-sambar, upma-chutney and pongal-chutney for breakfast,” said Kaunteya Dasa of Akshaya Patra. The breakfast initiative is funded by Aurobindo Pharma, a pharmaceutical company as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility...

-Economic and Political Weekly Pavitra MoHAn (amrit@aajeevika.org) is the Director of Aajeevika Bureau's Health Services and the co-founder of Basic Healthcare Services. Kumaril Agarwal (kumaril_msw@yahoo.com) was a research associate with Aajeevika Bureau during this study. Priyanka Jain (priyanka.jain@aajeevika.org) is with the Centre for Migration and Labour Solutions, Aajeevika Bureau. Remote parts of southern Rajasthan such as Udaipur, Dungarpur, Banswara and Rajsamand are characterised by a predominance of tribal groups and a high...

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...