-Press release by Right to Food Campaign dated 16th January, 2019 It is shocking to learn that Jharkhand Government has decided to reduce the number of weekly eggs in school midday meals from three to two. Earlier, the government allotted Rs 4 per egg. With increase in price of eggs, it has revised the allotment to Rs 6 per egg. But instead of increasing the total budget commensurately with the inflation...

-The Hindu But shola forests have remained “relatively unchanged” Kochi: The new year heralds bad news for the high-altitude grasslands of the Western Ghats. Over four decades, the country lost almost one-fourth of these grasslands and exotic invasive trees are primarily to blame, find scientists. Though grassland afforestation using pine, acacia and eucalyptus ceased in 1996, the exotics still invade these ecosystems, confirms a study published on January 2 in the international...

-Scroll.in The ASHA unions in Bihar are demanding government employee status and a minimum wage. Accredited Social Health Activists or ASHA workers in Bihar went on an indefinite strike from December 1 with a 12-point charter of demands. Bihar has 93,687 ASHA workers – the second highest contingent of the one million ASHA workers in India. They are the key link between the healthcare system and rural populations and have to perform...

-VillageSquare.in Women trained as poshan sakhis, or nutrition friends, advice and help rural women, particularly expectant and lactating mothers, to eat nutritious food and overcome anemia and underweight deliveries Koraput (Odisha): Swapnarani (21), an expectant mother, finishes her household work fast to attend the monthly maitri baithak at her village Bhutanagar in Badakeranga panchayat of Odisha’s Koraput district. Maitri baithak, or friendship meeting, provides space for women to discuss issues that concern...

-CNBCTV18.com * The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee mobilised a farmers’ movement in a year. * The trigger was a June 2017 farmers’ agitation in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, where six people died in the midst of violence and police shootings. * In 12 months, the AIKSCC has managed to drive the convergence of farmer groups, including those representing marginalised farmers (women, adivasis and Dalits), apart from the introduction of two Bills. “Farmer...