-Livemint.com Investments in irrigation, combined with better-quality seeds, can dramatically improve returns to farming Global attention has been devoted to water scarcity and its effect on Indian farmers. However, new analysis from Indian researchers suggests that far more good could come if irrigation were combined with seed improvement. Tata Trusts and Copenhagen Consensus have commissioned new research by noted experts from India and around the world, looking at measures that would help Indian...

-The Hindu Five years after the first canteen came up, the future of the pet project of the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa hangs in balance due to reports of fall in patronage and mounting losses borne by civic bodies. Budgetary support and operational reforms may be necessary for a course correction Sekar. D was observing this newspaper’s team of reporters as he sat cross-legged on the tiled floor. Then, he abandoned his...

-The Indian Express The focus in the Union Budget on tertiary healthcare at the cost of primary and secondary healthcare is flawed. A publicly-financed health insurance scheme is no substitute If the past three Union budgets were any indication, this budget’s approach to the health sector should not have surprised anyone. The prescription in the National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 to increase the government’s (Centre and the states together) health expenditure from the...

-TheCitizen.in Govt admits no stakeholders consulted; Opposition parties demand Bill deferred to a Standing Committee NEW DELHI: The debate in the Lok Sabha over the Triple Talaq Bill that criminalises the practice with a three year, non bailable prison term, for the erring Muslim husband belonged to Congress MP Sushmita Dev from Assam. After her senior leader Maillkarjun Kharge, had assured the BJP that the Congress was supportive of the Bill, but...

-The Hindu Business Line AIBOC questions legality of mandating UID linking of accounts Coimbatore: The All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) wants Aadhaar seeding of accounts put on hold till the Supreme Court comes out with a clear directive. “The government should make it clear to the people that the seeding of Aadhaar is voluntary and not mandatory,” said D Thomas Franco, General Secretary, AIBOC. He said the Aadhaar Act of 2016 was meant...