-Down to Earth Lancet study says 5.5 million infant deaths in the world go unrecorded Every year, more than 750,000 children in India die before completing the first year of their lives. The number is more than that of any other country in the world. A research led by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine states India recorded 779,000 deaths in 2012. It was followed by Nigeria with 276,000 deaths, Pakistan with...
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Advice to cut reach of job scheme -Basant Kumar Mohanty
-The Telegraph Officials are set to propose to the Narendra Modi government that the UPA's blockbuster rural job scheme be restricted to select districts as the decision in 2008 to extend it to all districts was not required. The officials of the rural development ministry are expected to tell the new minister that the funds allocated for the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA) were not adequate for national...
More »Rs 1,400 MSP for wheat disappoints Maharashtra farmers -Aparna Pallavi
-Down to Earth Demand minimum support price of above Rs 2,000 per 100 kg; say present MSP does not meet even cost of cultivation Maharashtra government has recently announced the minimum support price for wheat at Rs 1,400 per quintal (100 kg). The decision has not gone down well with either the farmers or the agriculture department. Farmers in the state have questioned the rationale behind this low MSP, saying that such...
More »Conflict of interest in setting norms for pharmaceuticals in WHO -Rema Nagarajan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The World Health Organisation's (WHO) work of setting up norms and standards for production of medicines seems to be flawed by a fundamental conflict of interest. At the heart of its standard setting work is an entity the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) in which majority of the WHO member countries have no voting rights and which is dominated by pharmaceutical industry groups. This glaring...
More »India's non-solutions for reducing inequality-Rajiv Shastri
-The Business Standard Or, why our subsidy and tax policies have been almost exactly wrong Thomas Piketty's seminal book on inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, comes at a fortuitous time. Although inequality has been a well-discussed issue in India for some time now, the success of the book contributes by sharpening the debate. It complements the McKinsey Global Institute's (MGI) report titled "From poverty to empowerment: India's imperative for jobs, growth,...
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