-Livemint.com/ PTI Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting Budget 2021-22 earlier this month had announced the privatisation of Public Sector Banks To facilitate the privatisation of public sector banks, the government is likely to bring amendments to two legislations later this year. Amendments would be required in the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 for privatisation, sources said. These Acts...

-The Indian Express At the projected economic cost of Rs 29.94/kg for wheat and Rs 42.94/kg for rice, the corresponding per-kg PDS consumer subsidy in the coming fiscal would work out to Rs 27.94 and Rs 39.94, respectively. The Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) “economic cost” of wheat sold through the public distribution system (PDS) is budgeted to go up to Rs 29.94 per kg and that of rice to Rs 42.94...

School meals ensure nutrition for millions of vulnerable children across the world. Almost 370 million children worldwide are covered by school feeding programmes. While 100 million school children benefitted from the noon meal scheme in India prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries like Brazil (48 million), China (44 million), South Africa (9 million) and Nigeria (9 million) too run similar programmes for school children. However, an estimated 39 billion in-school...

-The Hindu “Only implementation of strategies is being monitored, rather than actual outcomes” New Delhi: In the last year of its mission to double farmers income, the Centre admits that no actual assessment of farm income has been carried out since 2013. Ashok Dalwai, head of the committee on doubling farmers income, told The Hindu that only the implementation of strategies is being monitored, rather than actual outcomes. He cautioned that the impact...

-PTI/ The Hindu The report tabled in the Lok Sabha said the Health ministry has not paid enough attention to the transportation problems faced by pregnant women, particularly when the labour pain starts. A standing committee report to examine “Women’s Healthcare: Policy Options” highlighted the issue of unavailability of easy transportation of expectant mothers to the nearest delivery points still remains a arduous task in view of difficult geographical terrains. The report tabled...