-Tehelka National Health Policy 2015 draft could end up being a paper tiger Successive governments since the reforms of 1991 have been criticised for low funding on health, lowest in the world. Nearly one percent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) is spent each year on public health. But the new government has pledged to turn the tide around by increasing government spending to 2.5 percent of GDP in the draft health...

-The Financial Express The government has decided to dispense with "levy rice", a mandatory system under which rice millers also undertake rice procurement for the public distribution system by buying paddy directly from the farmers, effective the next marketing season starting October. The system, introduced way back in 1978, is set to be withdrawn as the government felt that a lack of effective supervision often allowed the millers to avoid paying minimum...

-NDTV Our journey takes us to five villages in Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh, to meet families that do not have a toilet at home. Nearly 65 per cent of households in rural areas of the state are without toilets. Prema and Tanu belong to a Scheduled Caste family of daily wagers in Ahlada Kheda. Students of Class 9 and 10, they are exposed to children from different socioeconomic backgrounds at...

-Business Standard On the basis of resource-efficiency, pollution and compliance, state-owned power generation firms fare the worst A staggering 90 per cent of coal-based thermal power plants in India fare unsatisfactorily on the environmental front, shows a recent analysis. While state-owned power generation companies are among the worst performers, plants owned by private firms have performed better on environmental and energy parameters. In a report released by the Centre for Science...

-Frontline A critique of the report of the high-level committee on restructuring the FCI and reviewing its role by TK Rajalakshmi SOON after assuming power at the Centre, Narendra Modi's National Democratic Alliance government set up a high-level committee on re-structuring the Food Corporation of India that was mandated to make the food management system more efficient. It was headed by Shanta Kumar, former Union Minister for Rural Development and former Chief...