-Hindustan Times It is pertinent to realise that 34 out of 1,000 children born in the country die in the mother’s womb itself. Nine lakh children below the age of five die much before they can comprehend the meaning of independent India and approximately 19 crore people in the country are compelled to sleep on an empty stomach. The history of the nation won’t record the names of Shikha, Manasi or Parul...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Heavy rains and floods have claimed 537 human lives across six states in the current monsoon season. Maharashtra is the worst affected with 139 fatal casualties so far, followed by Kerala with 126 deaths, West Bengal with 116, UP with 70, Gujarat with 52 and Assam with 34 deaths, according to data maintained by the home ministry’s National Emergency Response Centre. Another 13 persons are reported...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and nine states, including Bengal, to file affidavits within four weeks stating by when they would fill their vacant posts of information commissioners and, in some cases, even chief information commissioners. The bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan were hearing a petition from RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj, who cited four vacancies in the Central Information Commission and many...

-The New Indian Express A recent internal communication between UIDAI officials had pegged that around 1 to 1.5% of all enrolments made in the last seven years have “mixed biometrics” BengalURU: In February this year, a contract labourer in Raichur got his Aadhaar number after seven years of running from pillar to post. Mixing of his fingerprints with that of his son — for no mistake of his own — had cost...

-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...