-The Business Standard   Universal health scheme on the cards; Spend on the sector likely to be raised The Union Budget is likely to announce the first of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government's social welfare schemes for the health sector - the National Health Assurance Mission. The programme will provide universal health care and offer comprehensive health insurance for the poor. The Budget could also, sources say, propose the government's mission-mode...

-The Hindu   A welter of problems may be in store for the country These are testing times for the Narendra Modi government in the farm and food sector: the south-west (June-September) monsoon is delayed, deficient and weak; kharif sowing, much of which is rain-fed, is lagging by over 17 per cent over last year; rising food prices are pushing up inflation and pulling down growth. Right now the prices of only perishable...

-PTI   NEW DELHI: The Communal Violence Bill, an initiative of the previous UPA regime, seems to have been put on the back burner by the NDA government with the home ministry unlikely to push the controversial legislation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had dubbed the bill as a "recipe for disaster" when he was chief minister of Gujarat. Home ministry officials said there has been no discussion at all on the "Prevention...

-Mail Today     India is staring at the spectre of a possible drought as the progress of the monsoon has been abysmally slow, with authorities saying cumulative rainfall across the country has been 45 per cent below the average for this period. Reason: the El Nino effect is adversely affecting this year's monsoon, say weather experts. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its latest report, has highlighted the weak and delayed onset of...

-The Telegraph   Supaul: A college graduate hailing from a farmers' family, Anil Kumar Yadav (32) roamed around in Delhi and Mumbai in search of a job only to return empty-handed, about three years ago. The very idea of getting engaged in the family's traditional vocation was "nightmarish" to him. Anil, a resident of Samda Chowk village under Basantpur block of Supaul district, around 350km northeast of Patna, today owns a spanking motorcycle,...