-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The government is readying a new policy framework to rein in the inflationary impact and stabilise the supply of pulses, a widely consumed but scarce food item with economy-wide implications. Three ministries – agriculture, food and finance – and the state-run policy think-tank Niti Aayog are coordinating efforts to frame the new measures that will see the government step in as one of the key importers of pulses. “The...

-The Hindu More than half of them don’t have any medical qualification, and in rural areas, just 18.8 per cent of allopathic doctors are qualified. Almost one-third (31 per cent) of those who claimed to be allopathic doctors in 2001 were educated only up to the SECondary school level and 57 per cent did not have any medical qualification, a recent WHO report found, ringing the alarm bells on India’s healthcare workforce. The...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre has slammed 12 states, including Bengal and Bihar, for not taking any steps yet to comply with a Supreme Court directive on compensating workers for delayed wages under the national job guarantee scheme. In a letter this week, the rural development ministry said this was "not an acceptable situation". The letter written by Aparajita Sarangi, the joint SECretary handling the MGNREGA scheme, said 20 states had started...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Air and dust pollution from road traffic may be a threat to Kashmir's silk SECtor, already dogged by the lack of cocoon-processing infrastructure, declining production and farmers' abandonment of silkworm-rearing. Scientists at the University of Kashmir, Srinagar, and the Central Sericulture Research Institute, Pampore, have warned that traffic pollution may significantly reduce food consumption by silkworms and their capacity to spin the fibre. Field observations suggest that silkworms do...

-Business World It is time for mainstream approach to change so that warehousing industry is perceived as a services SECtor. Warehouses can become the distribution centres pan India India is the world's SECond-largest fruit producer, with an annual production of 46.8 million tons, accounting for 10 per cent of global fruit production. It is also the world's SECond-largest vegetable producer, with an output of 90.85 million tons, accounting for 14 per cent...