-The Hindu The notion of using tax as a tool to alter consumer food preferences cannot be faulted in principle. Mexico provides us with proof that levying additional taxes on non-essential food items that are rich in fat or calories can effectively alter food choices. The country witnessed a 5.1 per cent dip in consumption levels in foodstuff that had more than 275 kcal/100 g energy density following the imposition of...

It was a Rashomon moment for the readers of the First Common Review Mission report when they heard activists complaining about the pension system of Rajasthan during a recent press conference held in the capital. The First Common Review Mission (CRM) report, which was prepared during the month of May this year by a team of 32 experts had observed that pension related payments under the National Social Assistance Programmes (NSAP)...

-The Hindu Nine days for release, the sole inhabitant fears losing benefits New Delhi: Arvind Singh is not a beggar, but he chooses to be seen as one. For THRee months now, the 60-year-old with sunken cheeks and arched eyebrows has been the only resident of Delhi government’s shelter for 1,525 beggars at Lampur, Narela. The single-storied home on 22 acres shares a compound with the Foreigners Detention Centre. There are nearly 70 rooms...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Around 328 children under 5 years of age die of diarrhoea every day, latest assessment by the health ministry shows. This has prompted the ministry to intensify its diarrhoea control programme to reach out to over 10 crore children with ORS solution this year from 6.3 crore last year. Estimates show that over 1.2 lakh children less than five years of age succumb to diarrhoea every...

-The Times of India Bhopal: Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh that faced THRee years of successive drought and farmer suicides, is now waterlogged following THRee days of rainfall. All districts of the backward region now face another extremity of weather - floods. All the water bodies which were empty till Wednesday, are overflowing. Thousands of people are marooned at different locations in the THRee districts of Tikamgarh, Damoh and Sagar because of...