Recent data from the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) shows that about one-third of children in India is undernourished – 35.7 percent children below 5 years are underweight (too thin for age), 38.4 percent are stunted (too short for age) and 21.0 percent are wasted (too thin for height). It is also revealed that the level of anaemia among women and girls (aged 15-49 years) has stagnated marginally over the...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The upcoming Budget poses a big challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There are too many demands on the Budget while the government is expected to stick to its fiscal deficit targets. Traditionally, Modi's Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has been seen to rely on middle-class voters—urban workers and small traders. But Modi's rise to power was fuelled equally by rural voters. Budget 2018-19 being the last full...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to draw up a policy to combat air pollution across the country, saying the threat was not confined to the Delhi-NCR region. Additional solicitor-general A.N.S. Nadkarni said the Centre would take the issue up with the various stakeholders. "You must have a plan for the entire country. The problem of air pollution is there even in places like Raipur, Patna and...

-The Telegraph The Left in Bengal had often criticised him whenever he red-flagged excessive local tyranny, and spoke about the industrial decline in Bengal. The incumbent ruling party may make tall claims about changes in Bengal since the Trinamul government came to power but he has been candid enough to suggest that he hasn't seen much change either in industrial expansion or in investment in infrastructure. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Every household in India will get a proper toilet and the entire country will be open-defecation free (ODF) much before the Modi government faces election next year, top government functionaries said. This is the biggest flagship programme led by the PM. While urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said his ministry will hit the target a year before the October 2019 deadline, the sanitation ministry...