Almost one in every five suicides in the world is committed by self-poisoning with pesticide, which mostly occur in rural, agricultural areas of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), states a new publication entitled 'Preventing Suicide: A resource for pesticide registrars and regulators'. Published jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the booklet says that the adoption of green revolution technology...

-Newsclick.in Allowing 100% FDI in coal mining is raising apprehensions that foreign companies will now ‘plunder’ mineral resources for commercial purposes for sale in the open market. The Narendra Modi government’s decision to allow 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in coal mining has been opposed by the Left on the ground it would enable multinational mining companies to “plunder” the country’s mineral resources. Those supporting the move, however, argue that foreign investment in...

-Economic and Political Weekly An overwhelming proportion of the poor live in low-income states in India. These states are home to over two-thirds of the children in the 0–14 age group. Therefore, provision of comparable levels of basic social services and physical infrastructure is important to ensure balance and stability in the Indian federation. This underlines the importance of intergovernmental transfers. Conceptually, general purpose transfers are given to enable the states...

-National Herald Those of us who care for integrity, principle and constitutional values as citizens of India have a huge task ahead. When Independence was dreamt of, it must have seemed impossible “Being part of a democratic government is hard. Being a citizen is hard. It is a challenge. It’s supposed to be. There’s no respite from our ideals. All of us are called to live up to our expectations for ourselves...

-The Indian Express The Prime Minister’s Office and the Finance Minister have been meeting various stakeholders over the last week to discuss the slowdown which is adversely impacting various sectors now. With the economy on a continuous slide, the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman Bibek Debroy said it is high time the government focused on expenditure and recommended a GST Council-like mechanism for the Centre and states to strategise on...