-Hindustan Times Prioritise universal access of food grains since those dying of starvation are mainly the marginalised Forty-four-year-old mother, Amir Jahan, epitomised gallantry this Republic Day. There was not a morsel of food at home. So, while the nation celebrated, she quietly borrowed six rotis from a neighbour and distributed them equally among her three daughters, though she hadn’t eaten for four days. That night Amir died of starvation. In the first month...

-Hindustan Times With the rising costs of campaigns, parties have increasing incentives to field richer candidates with criminal cases against them — precisely those who do a worse job of representing and working for the welfare of their constituents. Are Members of Parliament (MPs) genuinely interested in giving back to the voters who elected them? Since 1993, MPs have been allotted money under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)...

-The Indian Express In a reply to the Budget debate in the Assembly, Vasundhara Raje said, "We sent the Bill to the Select Committee, we let the ordinance lapse and today it is not law, what should we withdraw? But we are still withdrawing it.” Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Monday announced the withdrawal of a controversial Bill that sought to gag the Media and shield judges and government servants from...

-Scroll.in Thailand spends as much of its GDP on health as India, yet it offers the entire range of healthcare services to all citizens for free. Finance Minister Arun Jailtley’s Budget speech this year and the subsequent Media coverage projected insurance coverage as being almost synonymous with universal health coverage. Nothing could be further from the truth. Health insurance is only a small part of ensuring universal health coverage. Besides, to...

  The declining trend in organized sector employment (i.e. in establishments employing 10 or more workers) continued in the first quarter of 2017-18. The sixth round of the Quarterly Report on Employment Scenario in selected sectors (as on 1st July, 2017), which was released in February this year, confirms this. The Labour Bureau’s latest report says that the net number of jobs created in the 8 major sectors of the economy was...