-Hindustan Times Healthcare in India could use the help of better data and analysis from both public health systems and private sector interventions Better data is needed to enhance state intervention in health and nutrition and harness the strengths of the well-entrenched private sector to achieve public health goals. To meet the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the next 15 years, it is important to measure progress closely and ensure mid-course...

-Down to Earth MGNREGA budget has declined in real terms over the years, despite claims of “highest ever” allocations In 2004, before India had any legal welfare entitlements for the informal sector, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, was furiously debated in the Parliament and the media. The aim of this legislation was to address the crisis of under employment and unemployment in the rural economy and provide job opportunities through public works...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Bihar is among the states with the poorest progress towards open-defecation-free (ODF) targets with some districts requiring 500 toilets every day to meet 2019 goals, according to a report from the non-government Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released today. The report said Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand, accounting for 60 per cent of open defecation, would need to accelerate efforts for India to reach its ODF...

-The Hindu Business Line Women farmers face the brunt; GST adds to their woes New Delhi: The Agriculture Ministry has written to the Finance Ministry seeking income-tax exemption for farmer produce organisations (FPOs), particularly for those that are registered as farmer producer companies (FPO) under the Companies Act. “These FPOs were brought in to negotiate the problems that are faced by cooperative societies. So they are naturally eligible for all the benefits that...

-The Indian Express As both IARI and IISS continued refining their respective products, procurement under the soil health card scheme gathered steam when the government sanctioned setting up over 6,000 mini labs in 2016-2017. New Delhi: Despite objections raised by senior officers, a low-cost digital soil-testing technology developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has been tweaked by a sister ICAR institute...