-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government is set to recast its focus towards nutrition with a set of new schemes that will take off in the coming financial year. The Union Budget has also increased allocations for the National Nutrition Mission and establishment of new labs for testing food given under the scheme. Expressing satisfaction with the Budget allocations women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi said, "All our schemes...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Budget cuts in several schemes for minority, Dalit and tribal students have prompted academics and activists to question the government's commitment to the education of marginalised communities. A section of the Budget papers presented on Monday, titled "Expenditure Budget, Statement 22", shows a fall in allocations to many schemes compared with last year's Budget. For example, allocations for pre-matric scholarships for minorities and Dalits have fallen by over 10...

-The Hindu Business Line The Budget outlay apart, an ambience of autonomy and a focus on soft skills are just as important The Budget identifies education as one of the key pillars of its agenda. It offers support on three dimensions — reach, infrastructure, and quality in higher education. Extend reach: The Budget aims to extend the reach of education. At the post-secondary level, it focuses on expanding skill development (by scaling up...

-The Indian Express Never before has India’s agricultural science community been as demoralised as now Everyone knows Indian agriculture is in deep crisis, impacting around 115 million farmers and an equal number of landless cultivators. Two consecutive bad monsoons and falling commodity prices have resulted in the imports of edible oils and pulses touching all-time-highs, even as its exports of agri-products — from basmati rice, soya meal, sugar, milk powder and...

-Down to Earth But boost in agriculture Budget not enough, say experts Sensing the prevailing agriculture crisis, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley announced in the Union Budget that Budgetary allocation for the agriculture and farmers’ welfare ministry will be increased 45 per cent compared to last year. The government has set aside an allocation of Rs 35,984 crore which is Rs 11,000 crore more than that of last year. (See table)....