-Live Mint The problem is unlikely to be solved by government action alone   With almost every second child stunted in the country, India is virtually a nutritional basket case. Despite making giant strides in reducing poverty and hunger over the past two decades, India has struggled to combat child under-nutrition. India's malnutrition burden arises from a long history of flawed policy choices and deep-rooted gender inequality, which the new government must address...

-Frontline   Political parties flush with funds provided by corporate houses are winning over journalists, and some news organisations are creating packages for election coverage, making the phenomenon of ‘paid news' all pervasive. THE credibility of journalism and journalists has been greatly undermined by the scourge of cash for coverage, a much-abhorred sickness in the profession worldwide. News space on television, radio and newsprint is compromised with impunity with blatant advertising parading...

A new report from the United Nations entitled Trends in maternal mortality estimates 1990 to 2013 shows that India accounted for 17 percent (i.e. 50000 maternal deaths) of global maternal deaths (i.e 289000 maternal deaths) in 2013. Previously the State of World’s Children 2009 report stated that India’s share in global maternal deaths was a staggering 22 percent in 2005. (Please see the links below).      The latest report on trends in maternal mortality...

-The Times of India BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh may clock fastest growth rate in the country, but it still hugs the lowest rung in national rankings when it comes to primary education. This time though, the rankings are by Union HRD ministry and not a private foundation. Almost half of students of Class III in the state cannot read and understand simple text while one third cannot do addition and subtraction. The...

-Live Mint   A key reason for the surge in anti-incumbency faced by UPA has been its failure to curb inflationary pressures New Delhi: A key reason for the surge in anti-incumbency faced by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has been its failure to curb inflationary pressures for most of the regime's second tenure. While inflation based on wholesale prices averaged 6.1% during UPA-1 (2004-2009), it was a percentage point higher at 7.1%...