-The Wire Even as it claims to be fighting the perception that it is anti-poor, the Modi government has just dealt a big blow to the poorest of the poor: the planned phasing out of the Antyodaya programme under the Targeted Public Distribution System (Control) Order 2015. This move is unjust and illegal. Antyodaya is a programme of social support for destitute households. It involves the provision of 35 kg of foodgrains...

-Tehelka The country has egg on its face but not in its diet, as the Global Hunger Index reveals acute malnutrition Swachh Bharat Mission, if implemented in a holistic fashion, holds the key to curbing not only the problem of diarrhoeal deaths for which India holds the world record, but also malnutrition. However, the World Toilet Summit, which was held in the national capital this year as part of the Mission, was...

-The Hindu The National Nutrition Monitoring Board (NNMB), set up in 1972, has been doing silent, and remarkable service to the nation. We tend to look at a nation’s progress increasingly, and almost exclusively, in terms of its economic and business statistics. India is now invited to the high table as a growing economy, with its annual financial growth rate of over 4 per cent. Internally too, we have setup many mechanisms,...

-The Hindu Business Line Don’t let Modi’s gloss undermine the efforts and achievements of the UPA government, says the former Prime Minister This is the text of a speech delivered at the Congress chief ministers’ conclave in New Delhi on June 9 There is somewhat of a euphoria that our GDP growth since 2014-15 has started accelerating once again. But doubts have been expressed both within and outside government about the validity of...

-The Hindu CHINNAMANUR (Tamil Nadu): Paddy growers in Cumbum valley have successfully harvested rice fallow pulses, third crop in a year, thanks to summer rain in the last month. They had raised green gram in lands where they harvested paddy, the second crop in the valley. Summer rain had kept the paddy field wet after harvest, which was sufficient to raise the third crop. “To capitalise on the summer rain, we had recommended...