-Livemint.com/ AP Hundreds of millions of people in at least 13 states are reeling from severe drought, a situation that is expected to worsen in the coming months Shahapur: Shantabai Babulkar’s day begins before dawn with a 5 kilometer trek across barren fields and dusty scrubland to fetch water from a distant well for her family. The two metal pots of muddy water that Babulkar, 58, balances on her head and a...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Projected work under the rural job guarantee scheme for 2016-17 is down 10 per cent after a rare boost in the last financial year, suggesting a tightening of the purse strings following a year of heavy expenditure on the programme. The rural development ministry has approved the generation of 217 crore person-days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, following last year's approval for...

-TheWire.in The number of jobs created in eight select industries in 2015 was 135,000. This was much worse than the 421,000 jobs created in 2014 and the 419,000 in 2013. Here, when I use the shorthand “jobs” it means both jobs and livelihoods for self-employed people. In the farm sector, most “jobs” are livelihoods. In the non-farm sector too, outside of the organized sector, much of working opportunities come as self-employed livelihoods...

-The Hindu Business Line The priority for this government is to promote the medical care market, not ensure universal healthcare for the majority Those at the helm of policymaking in the country have been, for some time, strongly advocating austerity as the principle for public expenditure policies, particularly for the social sectors. Arvind Panagariya, the vice-chairperson of the NITI Aayog, suggests that “for just three-quarters of a per cent of the GDP”, 0.76...

-The Hindu This month marks the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to dramatically improve lives across the world by 2030. This month marks the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to dramatically improve lives across the world by 2030. The SDGs will help countries frame their policies and strategies towards achieving these mutually agreed upon goals and targets. SDG 3, which aims to ensure good...