-The Telegraph New Delhi: A leading cancer specialist has called on the government to investigate whether a "tobacco lobby" has influenced arms of the government to initiate action against public health organisations engaged in India's tobacco control efforts. Kailash Sharma, director of academics at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, has cited leaked government and tobacco industry documents to seek a probe into whether a Union home ministry note allegedly depicting tobacco control...

-Scroll.in The Public Health Foundation of India had been working on government programmes since 2010. The Ministry of Home Affairs has barred the Public Health Foundation of India from receiving foreign funding by revoking its registration under the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act. The ministry cited the organisation’s lobbying against tobacco use as one of the reasons for the move. However, as the foundation’s officials have pointed out, it has been working...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: The World Bank has warned the Assam government that the loan amount sanctioned for the Assam State Roads Project may be slashed if the pace of implementation does not improve by March 2017. In the implementation status and results report of the project, released on December 21, the bank said the Assam State Roads Project is unlikely to achieve the project development objective due to poor progress and the...

-The Hindu Business Line There’s room for more awareness and organisation, but the number of people benefiting from fair price shops is growing Poor people in India depend heavily on the public distribution system. A recent survey by the National Council of Applied Economic Research found that more than 90 per cent ration card-holders in Below Poverty Line (BPL) / Priority Households (PHH) and the Antyodaya Anna Yojna category purchase foodgrain at...

-The Financial Express West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu — states that are currently in assembly elections mode — have registered huge spurt in job numbers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Act (MGNREGA). West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee is fighting to retain power, saw a record 28.66 crore person-days of employment being generated under MGNREGA during the year ended March 31, 2016. This represented a...