-The Indian Express   Available data suggests the programme has been effective in reducing rural poverty and gender discrimination Nirmala Sitharaman's misinformation (‘How not to run a programme', IE, May 9) on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which employs one in every four Indian rural households every year, is disappointing. Consider these facts. For the first time in over two decades, the increase in rural consumption (a proxy indicator...

-Live Mint   Recent Maoist violence highlights the conflicts that centre around the model of India's economic growth   New Delhi: The deaths of nine people from violence related directly to the general election-occurring in and around polling booths-are an early warning to the next government that it must start thinking about how to balance economic growth with social justice and equity, experts said.   These deaths-mostly in areas hit by Maoist violence-highlight the conflicts that...

-Down to Earth   Study published in The Lancet indicates what the country will need to spend to provide basic cancer screening and care to patients A report published in the international journal, The Lancet, has drawn attention to poor infrastructure and treatment facilities for cancer patients in India, which is leading to high cancer mortality. To deliver even a basic cancer screening and treatment package in rural India, 15 states would need to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A UN panel on Monday morning released its much awaited report which assessed impacts of climate change on human lives, natural resources and marine ecosystem across the globe. It predicted a gloomy picture for Asia where most of the countries, including India and China, will not only have to face more extreme weather events but also have to experience severe stress on drinking water and...

-Down to Earth Bad loans of public sector banks to business are more than double the food subsidy There are some things you simply do not do in the liberalised economy. You do not put bank loans under the lens-unless these are ballooning out of control. That is, until such loans are likely to jeopardise the entire banking system and send the economy into a tailspin. And there's another thing: you don't...