-The Hindu Use of contraceptives on the rise, rural-urban gap narrowing, finds analysis of NFHS-5 The latest data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) provides evidence of an uptake in the use of modern contraceptives in rural and urban areas, an improvement in family planning demands being met, and a decline in the average number of children borne by a woman, and prove that the country’s population is stabilising and fears...

-Altnew.in Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI AAYog, found himself in the middle of a controversy when he was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying, “Too much of democracy hampering reforms in India” while speaking at a virtual event organised by Swarajya Magazine. Kant took to Twitter to deny saying these words. “This is definitely not what I said. I was speaking about MEIS scheme & resources being spread thin & need...

Preliminary findings of a survey among 3,994 respondents from 11 states reveal that most vulnerable households and communities, such as SCs, STs, OBCs, PVTGs, slum dwellers, daily wage labourers, farmers, single women headed households, etc. continue to witness depressed incomes during September-October in comparison to their income levels prior to the lockdown. The face-to-face survey conducted by the Right to Food Campaign and Center for Equity Studies (instead of telephonic...

-The Indian Express In the initial years, APMC Acts helped remove malpractices and freed the farmers from the exploitative power of middlemen and mercantile capital, writes Ramesh Chand In the context of the ongoing farmer protests in some parts of the country, Ramesh Chand, a member of Niti AAYog, explains the reason why the government had to introduce changes. “The debate on the Farmers’ Produce Trading and Commerce Act 2020 (FPTC Act) has...

-The Indian Express "Further, as the AAYog is a public-funded body, if these claims were made without scientific backing... can be construed as misutilisation of public money, particularly in a time when every sector of the country is struggling for funding," it added. Mumbai: Over 400 scientists from across the country on Thursday endorsed an open letter to the chairman of Rashtriya Kamdhenu AAYog, Vallabhbhai Kathiria, questioning his source of information after...