-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi/Bengaluru: The rapid progress of the south-west monsoon across the country has accelerated the sowing pace of key kharif crops such as rice, pulses, oilseeds and cotton. The south-west monsoon, the lifeline of India’s agriculture, has covered the country two weeks ahead of schedule. Agriculture Ministry data showed that kharif planting has been done in 165.62 lakh hectares so far this year, against 134.18 lakh hectares in...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Delhi remains behind states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu in key health indicators, such as the infant mortality rate (IMR). The Economic Survey report 2014-15 shows that 22 of every 1,000 children born in the city in 2013 (the latest available data) died within a year of birth. The number of children dying within 29 days of birth—also called neonatal mortality rate (NMR)— stood at 15...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Center has written to Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan governments, requesting them to consider distribution of free milk to school children as part of the ongoing Mid-Day Meal schemes -- the way Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have implemented it to raise nutritional level of children. The Center believes that the move will also help milk cooperatives, largely owned by farmers, by providing "ready and steady...

-Hindustan Times London: There are 1.6 billion people living in multidimensional poverty across the world and nearly 440 million of them are in eight large Indian states, according to a new analysis using a unique index developed at the University of Oxford.   The eight Indian states that have similar number of poor as in 25 African countries are Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan and West Bengal. The poorest...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Retired bureaucrats never retire. Stumped? A look at the information commissions, the transparency watchdogs, all over India reveals that they have become a re-employment arena for bureaucrats. Even though the Supreme Court has advised looking beyond retired civil servants for posts of information commissioners and chief information commissioners, governments prefer retired bureaucrats over candidates with specialisations in other fields. An annual study by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative,...