-The Hindu Business Line The manner in which alternating wet and dry spells trigger disease and morbidity needs to be better understood Monsoon fury was in full display this year with record floods over Kerala as well as widespread floods from Gujarat to the North-East. The season also produced a wide swathe of drought that covered much of peninsular India with a smattering of districts from Gujarat to the eastern regions and...

-The Indian Express In a statement, the Finance Ministry said the HCI score for India does not reflect the key initiatives that are being taken for developing human capital in the country. The World Bank on Thursday released its first report on Human Capital Index (HCI), which placed India at the 115th position, lower than Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Singapore topped the poll after it was highly rated for its universal...

-Mongabay.com * December 2018 is the official deadline for the land acquisition for the bullet train project but till now not even one percent of the required land is acquired. A court case is already going on in the Gujarat High Court against the land acquisition process undertaken by the Gujarat government. * Despite documents showing that the project has the potential to cause social conflict and have adverse environmental impacts, the...

-PTI The letter invited the japanese Ambassador to Gujarat for understanding the farmers' plight. Ahmedabad Farmers in Gujarat whose lands will be acquired for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet train have written to the japan government, alleging violation of the guidelines of the japanese agency which is funding the project. The letter sent by the farmers asked the japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is providing a soft loan for the Rs 1.10 lakh...

-Firstpost.com The recent increases in minimum support prices have attracted two criticisms from two opposite sides. One is that this is less than what farmers deserve, the second is that this is populist and ignores larger macro side effects. The increase in fair remunerative price for sugarcane has also been criticised for not adequately addressing the woes of the sugar sector. Ramesh Chand, member, agriculture, NITI Aayog talks to Firstpost on...