-Firstpost.com The recent increases in minimum support prices have attracted two criticisms from two opposite sides. One is that this is less than what farmers deserve, the second is that this is populist and ignores larger macro side effects. The increase in fair remunerative price for sugarcane has also been criticised for not adequately addressing the woes of the sugar sector. Ramesh Chand, member, agriculture, NITI Aayog talks to Firstpost on...

  A document of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) dated 25th June, 2018 says that the number of members subscribing to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) scheme gives one an idea of the level of employment in the formal sector viz. mostly employment in establishments employing 20 or more persons (though EPF is applicable for certain organisations, which employ less than 20 persons, subject to certain conditions and...

-The Indian Express Patient shelters must become part of urban infrastructure. Ramkishan Yadav (name changed) hails from Begusarai district in Bihar. He has been in Delhi for the past seven months to complete the treatment of his 11-year-old son, who suffers from a “treatable” form of bone cancer. The father and son live on the footpath in front of the main gate of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in...

-The Indian Express Released annually since 2016, the index examines governance performance in the states through a data-based framework, ranking them on social and economic development they are able to provide. Bengaluru: Pinarayi Vijayan’s ruled Kerala stands as the best-governed state in the country followed by Tamil Nadu, according to the Public Affairs Index 2018 released by the think tank Public Affairs Centre (PAC). While Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat are ranked third,...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Countries negotiating a global declaration on tuberculosis are under pressure to give up their rights to use existing provisions in world trade laws to provide affordable second-line and new anti-TB drugs to their populations, an international humanitarian agency said on Friday. Medecins Sans Frontieres said the US was "exerting extreme pressure" on other negotiators by refusing to sign the declaration if it retained text that "recognises the importance...