-The Times of India Bhubaneswar: Odisha received 17% deficit rain during the monsoon from June to August-end triggering fear that the scenario may affect agriculture operations. The state received 755 mm rain by August-end compared to normal rainfall of 912mm, the Met sources said. The IMD report said deficit rainfall continued in the state for three successive months. In June and July, the deficit stood at 19% and 24% respectively. In August, the...

-The New Indian Express HYDERABAD: A few select government school students in the city will now be served breakfast thanks to Akshya Patra’s efforts. The NGO  will provide breakfast at 20 government schools in Hyderabad from September. “We will give idly-sambar, upma-chutney and pongal-chutney for breakfast,” said Kaunteya Dasa of Akshaya Patra. The breakfast initiative is funded by Aurobindo Pharma, a pharmaceutical company as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility...

-The Hindu The matter was raised during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha to which the Health Minister, JP Nadda, could only promise that he would issue an advisory. New Delhi: Parliamentarians across party lines on Tuesday demanded that the mysteries of what one MP, KTS Tulsi, termed “the great Indian spit” be revealed through a scientific study. He held the view that the Indian habit of spitting was the cause of many...

-The Hindu Why are children in Kerala’s Muslim-dominated Kozhikode and Malappuram districts dying of diphtheria? Propaganda by orthodox Muslim community leaders and alternative medicine practitioners that vaccination is un-Islamic is the main cause, reports Rajeev G.R. Her years of clinical experience had not prepared her for that damp, rainy night when death lingered in the air inside the operation theatre. As Mohammad Afzaz (14) desperately gasped for air, he told her, “You...

-The Hindu Meerut: The National Commission for Women (NCW) has written to Aligarh Muslim University about alleged discrimination against girls in the university, asking for an explanation. Last week The Hindu had reported that some professional UG courses apart, women were barred from enrolling in undergraduate courses in the main campus of AMU. Instead, they went to the Women’s college, which has very limited resources Chairperson’s letter In a letter to the AMU Vice-Chancellor,...