India has witnessed many fiery debates on poverty estimates. Equally contentious has been the issue of inequality. Now a new report on exclusion offers a fresh perspective on poverty, inequality and social justice. (See below a summary of the report) Based on data and knowledge resources available in the public domain, India Exclusion Report 2013-14 highlights the systematic discrimination faced by women, Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Muslims, persons with...

-The Hindu   A welter of problems may be in store for the country These are testing times for the Narendra Modi government in the farm and food sector: the south-west (June-September) monsoon is delayed, deficient and weak; kharif sowing, much of which is rain-fed, is lagging by over 17 per cent over last year; rising food prices are pushing up inflation and pulling down growth. Right now the prices of only perishable...

-The New Indian Express   RAICHUR: The rains have let down the farmers of the district who are unable to start ploughing or sowing, particularly in rain-fed areas. Of the three lakh hectares of cultivable area, sowing has not started in even a single hectare. Of the 1,64,950 hectares of rain-fed areas, 1,42,150 hectares are irrigated by Tungabhadra left bank canal (Tungabhadra river) and Narayanpur right bank canal (Krishna river), but thanks to the...

-Mail Today     India is staring at the spectre of a possible drought as the progress of the monsoon has been abysmally slow, with authorities saying cumulative rainfall across the country has been 45 per cent below the average for this period. Reason: the El Nino effect is adversely affecting this year's monsoon, say weather experts. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its latest report, has highlighted the weak and delayed onset of...

-The Indian Express   The food security act is inadequate to meeting the malnutrition challenge. Malnutrition remains one of the biggest challenges facing India. In the last large survey, the National Family Health Survey of 2005-06, about 42 per cent children under the age of five were underweight. Economic growth has failed to redress this problem. Recently released estimates from the District Level Health Survey for selected states continue to paint a dismal...