-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Almost 80% of government-run hospitals in Delhi, which together have a daily footfall of about 50,000, do not have basic fire safety measures in place. Overcrowding, lack of trained manpower and poor maintenance are other problems that put the city’s hospitals at risk. At least 20 people were killed and scores injured in a fire that broke out at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, on Monday night. “In government...

-The Times of India KOLKATA: The blaze at a Bhubaneshwar hospital on Monday, in which 20 people were killed, has revived the tragic memory of the 2011 devastating fire at AMRI hospital that killed 91 patients but hundreds of Kolkata health facilities are apparently yet to learn a lesson. In spite of heightened vigilance and stricter implementation of prevention norms by fire services, especially after the AMRI disaster, government facilities and scores...

-Livemint.com International Fund for Agricultural Development calls on govts in the Asia-Pacific region to develop targeted policies and invest in promoting inclusive development of rural areas New Delhi: Inclusive rural transformation is essential to eliminate poverty and hunger and to build inclusive and sustainable societies, according to a report compiled by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The rural development report 2016, released in New Delhi on Monday, points out that policies,...

-PTI Job creation in India successively slowing down; employment might shrink 7 million by 2050 As many as 550 jobs have disappeared every day in last four years and if this trend continues, employment would shrink by 7 million by 2050 in the country, a study has claimed. Farmers, petty retail vendors, contract labourers and construction workers are the most vulnerable sections facing never before livelihood threats in India today, the study by...

-Livemint.com We don’t know enough about the socio-economic status of different caste groups, and our political class doesn’t want us to know Over the past couple of years, one Indian state after another has been on the boil because of caste-based agitations. The latest state to be engulfed in caste conflict is Maharashtra, where a stir by the dominant caste of Marathas seems to have led other backward classes (OBCs) and...