-Live Mint According to Unicef, India houses one-third of the stunted, wasted and malnourished children of the world Malnutrition is a persistent problem in India, though it is often confused with hunger. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about 18% of India's population was undernourished in 2012. Undernourishment is the main cause of children's deaths, and according to the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), India houses one-third of the stunted,...

-The Hindu The huge deficit in blood availability outside urban centres must jolt the government into legalising unbanked blood supply Twenty-year-old Putul, living in a village 70 km from a district headquarters town in Chhattisgarh, had been in labour for two days and a night. It was her first pregnancy. In order to hasten labour, the local quack administered several injections that increased her uterine contractions. Forty hours after the onset of...

-Frontline Interview with Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister for Rural Development. THE passage of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013, is being perceived as a major achievement by the United Progressive Alliance government. The Bill that has replaced the colonial Land Acquisition Act, 1894, went through several changes in order to arrive at a middle path, a term coined by Union Minister for...

-The Economic Times KOLKATA: Soon Bihar will become Punjab and second green revolution will start from these areas, said Dr Ashok Gulati, chairman, Commission for Agriculture Cost & Price at the 3rd Crop Summit held in Bihar. Dr Gulati raised the issue of unavailability of proper support value to farmers. He further told that Bihar doesn't have any issue in production but procurement is the major issue. Its rice milling capacity is...

-Frontline The government pushes through the Land Acquisition Bill, but critics say it will take away more than what it purports to give. CLOSE on the heels of the passing of the National Food Security Bill, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government pushed through its other game-changer initiative, the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013, or LARR Bill, ostensibly to address the injustices...