-Hindustan Times London: With the global population expected to touch 9 billion by 2050, food from forests in India and elsewhere have potential to address needs of nutrition and food security at a time when the limits of boosting agricultural production are becoming increasingly clear. A new report produced by an international panel led by Bhaskar Vira, an expert based at the University of Cambridge, says that  despite impressive productivity increases, there...

-The New Indian Express KOTTAYAM: There is a sharp decline in money-borrowing from local money lenders and private lending institutions in Ernakulam since the commencement of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), says a study conducted by the School of International Relations and Politics (SIRP) at the Mahatma Gandhi University here. The MGNREG scheme has made headway in Ernakulam district, stresses the Impact Assessment Study conducted by the SIRP...

-The Telegraph Standard model: The state provides a poor woman employment for 58 days a year, under the 100-day job guarantee scheme, at (Bengal's) daily wage rate of Rs 169. Cost: about Rs 20,000 over two years. Alternative: The state provides her an asset - maybe a small grocery - teaches her to run it and monitors her progress while giving a daily stipend for her consumption needs and ensuring basic healthcare...

-Livemint.com Increase in calorie consumption in rural and urban areas has surprised sceptics who doubted the sharpest fall in poverty seen in the last decade since the 1980s A long-standing puzzle in the Indian context has been the steady decline in calorie intake over the years despite economic progress. Many have argued that the decline in calorie consumption as seen from the surveys of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) is evidence...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre is set to announce a scheme for providing free diagnostic tests, including several blood tests, x-rays and advanced CT scans, for those visiting public health facilities. Private service providers will be roped in wherever required. While the idea of providing free diagnostics has been hailed by all those aware of it, health economists and public health experts expressed concern over outsourcing the tests to...