-The Hindu Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh announces it will not take part in the strike. The Left affiliated central trade unions will go ahead with a nationwide strike on Friday, even as the Centre on Tuesday announced sops in a bid to placate them. The peace offering includes a hike in the minimum wage for unskilled non-agricultural workers in central public sector units from Rs. 246 to Rs. 350 a day and formation of...

-The Hindu Sahul Hameed says rotating houses could be built using the same technology. Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu): M. Sahul Hameed (65) drew the ire of his family and mocked at by many as mentally imbalanced, but he stood steadfast in giving shape to his innovation, a ‘moving type house’, using ‘raft foundation’ technology. A class V dropout, Mr. Hameed of Melapudukkudi near Thirupullani worked in a construction company in Saudi Arabia for more...

-PTI New Delhi: The Centre is working to provide agriculture loans to farmers in a timely manner, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today. NABARD is creating groups of farmers and agriculture producers to provide them cheap loans from banks and till March-end, 2,424 producer groups were set up, he said. “The central government is working expeditiously to provide agriculture loans to farmers according to their needs and in a timely manner,” Singh...

-The Indian Express Floods and water-logging show that urban planners have paid scant respect to hydrology Rains have been good this monsoon season so far. But instead of welcoming the bounty, urban India seems to be wallowing in misery. Guwahati is flooded. People in Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai and Hyderabad are beset with water-logged streets and traffic snarls. Even half an hour of rainfall is enough to make a lot of places go...

-The Hindu India must convert its young population to a competitive advantage, and nutrition and health are foundational to that outcome. The “Global Nutrition Report 2016” once again demonstrates India’s slow overall progress in addressing chronic malnutrition, manifest in stunting (low weight for age), wasting (low weight for height), micronutrient deficiencies and over-weight. Our track record in reducing the proportion of undernourished children over the past decade has been modest at best,...