-Orissa Post Kaliapani: Even as eight months have passed since malnutrition deaths in hilltop Nagada village under Sukinda block in Jajpur district were reported, tribals in this area depend on salt and rice for their survival as benefits of welfare schemes still elude them. The state government was embarrassed after news spread that 22 kids of primitive Juang tribe had died due to alleged malnutrition in these villages. It was claimed that...

-IANS Kolkata: Lack of policy directions for ensuring quality implementation of programmes makes the Union Budget 2017-18 allocations to ailing core social sectors like education and health inadequate in delivering the benefits, experts say. Schemes like Swachh Bharat-Urban and the National Social Assistance Programme saw no increase, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan got a mere 4.4 per cent rise in allocation, while the Integrated Child Development Services got an enhancement of about five per...

-The Hindu Business Line A realistic MSP, better market access and warehouses Agriculture is not a profitable business in India. About 70 per cent of the country’s farmers are struggling to make ends meet. In 2012-13, the NSSO’s ‘Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households’ showed that farmers who own 1 hectare or less of land see an average monthly income of ?5,247, which doesn’t even suffice to meet their household expenses. Prime Minister...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: At least Rs 3,900 crore was laundered through shell companies between November-December after the ban on high-value banknotes, investigations by a central agency have found. The probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has also identified at least 54 people who helped 559 beneficiaries with laundering the illicit cash, sources said. The government recalled 500 and 1000-rupee notes on November 8 in a move it said was aimed...

-The Telegraph Calcutta: The Bengal budget has proposed a grant of Rs 50,000 each to 50,000 migrant workers who were forced to return from other states because of demonetisation. By announcing the first such scheme in the country, the Mamata Banerjee government has beaten to the draw the Narendra Modi dispensation. Speculation had swirled around the Modi government that it might share the "gains of demonetisation" with the people through direct deposits...