-Business Standard Agricultural marketing reform should first take states on board The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has announced plans for a "national agricultural market" which would involve the integration of 585 major regulated mandis through electronic platforms over three years. Several problems in the current farm marketing system, governed by the monopolistic agricultural produce marketing committees (APMCs), might be addressed if this works: the multiplicity of mandi fees and licences...
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Inequality in access to sanitation continues
There is some positive news about national progress in sanitation and drinking water. A newly released report from UNICEF and WHO informs us that the country has witnessed 31 percent reduction in open defecation since 1990. This means 394 million Indians no more defecate in the open. The bad news, however, is that the progress in ‘population not practising open defecation’ among the poorest has been slower during the last 20...
More »Nudge to tweak TB treatment rules -GS Mudur
-The Telegraph New Delhi: India could prevent on average 18,000 people from developing multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis every year over the next decade if the health ministry accelerates proposed changes in TB diagnosis and treatment policies, public health experts have said. A study by the health ministry's TB division has estimated that India could avert 180,000 cases of MDR-TB between 2015 and 2025 if most patients who seek government treatment are tested for MDR-TB...
More »In e-age, desi snail mail still crawling along -Lubna Kably
-The Times of India MUMBAI: Often when there is a heavy traffic jam, cabbie Surya Prasad (name changed) turns to a friendly passenger, hands over a blank post card and requests him to write a few words in English addressed to his children residing back home in Khaspur village, near Patna. Even in today's era dominated by cell phones and email, millions of Indians continue to rely on postal services to reach...
More »Toilets in schools: Month to go for Red Fort address, private sector misses target PM set -P Vaidyanathan Iyer
-The Indian Express The private corporate sector has completed construction of just 424 toilets or 8 per cent of its commitment of 5,134 toilets. New Delhi: With just over a month to go for Independence Day, the private corporate sector has fared the worst in building school toilets to meet the target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15 last year. He had announced construction of toilets in all...
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