-The Hindu Business Line   Two young women's organic business helps small farmers salvage their soil and livelihood Kolkata schoolmates Avantika Jalan and Rashmi Sarkar run Mana Organics, a social enterprise that helps small farmers improve soil fertility through chemical-free methods and navigate the country's complex food supply chain. Organic produce from its two projects in Tinsukia, Assam, and three villages in Madhya Pradesh are sold in New Delhi and Kolkata. Early days Registered as...

-The Hindu Over 95 per cent of patients coming to super-speciality hospitals are at the wrong place and have incurred hardships when they could have been treated at their neighbourhood primary care centre. A number of announcements have been made by the Central and State governments on their intent to offer Universal Health Care (UHC). These welcome developments are timely as India is now rapidly becoming one of the few countries that...

There is some good news amid gloom! Preliminary findings of a survey in India as quoted by the Global Nutrition Report 2014 shows that prevalence of malnutrition among children aged below 5 years has come down between 2005-06 and 2013-14, even though we have a long way to go. (See links and bullet points below). The survey on malnutrition and hunger, called the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC), was conducted after...

-The Hindu The Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) launched in 2011 to enumerate castes along with socio-economic data, is progressing, and is likely to be completed soon. A stand-alone caste headcount may not normally be desirable in a country grappling with the adverse consequences of social hierarchy and caste-based divisions. However, in conjunction with socio-economic data, a caste census may yield quantifiable data that could be used to evaluate measures such...

-DNA Aided schools flout norms, give glucose biscuits, poha, pav bhaji The mid day meal (MDM) scheme has been repeatedly hit by allegations of corruption and lack of hygiene. Now, dna tours the BMC schools or the aided ones in the city to find that not only is there blatant violation of norms, but also siphoning of good ration to replace them with sub-standard things is still rampant. The state government's resolution...