-The Hindu The latest GDP data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) raise more questions than they answer. While on the face of it, the projection of 7.6 per cent growth at constant prices for the fiscal year ending March 31 sounds both attainable and impressive, a closer look at the other sets of numbers, including the third-quarter reading, raises some flags. The pace of economic expansion is estimated to...

-BangaloreMirror.com Illiteracy, child marriage, poor dietary habits are the biggest hurdles in bringing change Three-year old Shivaranjini weighs NINe kg, while her sister who is three years older weighs 12 kg. Both are at least one kg lower than the minimum recommended weight for their age. But they are not exceptions. Weak and underweight children, all bony hands and feet and nearly visible rib cages, are a common sight here. It's lunch time...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a move that will benefit over 27 crore children across the country, the health ministry has expanded its deworming programme to convert it into a national initiative seeking to cover as many as 536 districts over the next one year. The programme was earlier limited to 277 districts in 11 high-burden states, and covered NINe crore children in 2015. The government has decided to ramp...

-The Asian Age Is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) a “living monument” of the failure of the economic policies of the Indian National Congress which has ruled the country for all but roughly 14 years since August 1947? Or is it that the MGNREGA, a law enacted a decade ago which seeks to implement the world’s biggest and most ambitious job creating scheme, one of the few...

-The India Express For the health, dignity and safety of women in slums, a comprehensive policy for the maintenance and construction of public toilets is needed. Living in a slum in Bandra West close to the railway station, Vijaya wakes up every morNINg to anxiety over the trek she and her daughter must take into the open, carrying water cans, to answer nature’s call. They could use the community toilet nearby, but...