-The Hindu ADILABAD: Anyone wanting to witness the intrinsic relationship between education and food security in low income and poverty ridden areas should visit the backward Sirpur Assembly constituency in the Adilabad district of Telangana. Provision of mid-day meals at government junior colleges here for the last 20 days has resulted in improved attendance of students thereby enhancing the scope for them to perform better in exams. “You do not need to...

-Business Standard The government is holding talks with states providing cashless health insurance, such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat After providing life cover and accident cover, the government is now working on a universal health insurance plan. To begin with, it will provide a seamless solution to the existing cashless health schemes in states by integrating those with the Centre's direct benefits transfer (DBT) platform. Later, these would be scaled up. "Encouraged...

-The Times of India/ The Economic Times Renowned geneticist and administrator M S Swaminathan is popularly known as the 'father of India's green revolution'. Speaking with Srijana Mitra Das, Swaminathan discussed why he fears the WTO Nairobi meet could exacerbate global food insecurity, double standards over farming protection between developed and developing nations, an Indian Single Market in grains - and how India, already suffering 'hidden' famine, must have freedom to...

-Business Standard In November, the government decides to transfer Rs 4.5 a quintal production incentive to bank accounts of sugarcane farmers Two months ago, the Centre after much deliberation decided to transfer Rs 4.50 a quintal directly into the bank accounts of sugarcane growers. The government called this a production incentive, but it is seen by many as an attempt to kill several birds with one stone. An incentive directly transferred into the...

-The Hindu The National Democratic Alliance government has just introduced a cess of 0.5 per cent on all taxable services for the Swachh Bharat campaign. In February 2016, it will introduce a 2 per cent cess on airfares for all domestic flyers except those flying to remote locations, and international travellers. This cess is meant to fund losses that airlines may incur in connecting to hinterland locations. The Central government loves...