-BBC India will provide four new vaccines free of cost as part of a programme to reduce child mortality, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said. They include one for rotavirus, which kills thousands of children a year. The disease causes dehydration and severe diarrhoea. It spreads via contaminated hands and surfaces, and is common in Asia and Africa. The move brings to 13 the number of free vaccines provided against life threatening diseases. "The introduction...

-The Hindu Business Line     Most farmer suicides linked to failed crops Hyderabad: The farm distress, particularly in cotton growing areas, continues to haunt the country. Maharashtra topped the list of farm suicides in 2013 with 3,146 farmers ending their lives. Andhra Pradesh (along with Telangana) stood second in the list with 2,014 deaths. The latest report of the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) has put the total number at 11,772, including 1,283 women, for...

-The Times of India The government on Tuesday admitted that a drought-like situation may prevail in parts of western India and said contingency plans were being worked out to ensure drinking water and fodder in distressed areas. Monsoon is delayed Western India is expected to be worst affected and drought like situation might prevail in some pockets," agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh was quoted as saying in a PTI report. The assessment will...

-The Financial Express MGNREGA must be tweaked in implementation, not design. Before his tragic demise, the Union minister for rural development, Gopinath Munde, gave a clear indication of the new government's priorities on MGNREGA. Both these priorities are vital: using the programme for the creation of productive assets to combat drought and poverty and ensuring timely payment of wages. More than two decades of liberalisation and high economic growth have left India...

-The Business Standard Charge end-users and create more storage structures   Food and energy security are often discussed as goals of critical importance for the Union government. But water security is equally vital - and as gravely endangered. Water is as critical for some key industries, for hydropower production, for freight movement - not to mention for agriculture and households. The worry is that the current scenario, in which national water resources are...