-The Hindu Lower stunting among children with mothers who had access to free school lunches, shows data from 1993-2016. Girls who had access to the free lunches provided at government schools, had children with a higher height-to-age ratio than those who did not, says a new study on the inter-generational benefits of India’s midday meal scheme published in Nature Communications this week. Using nationally representative data on cohorts of mothers and their children...

-The Hindu The Uttar Pradesh government should understand that evidence backs the principle of informed free choice Many of us working in the field of public health and social development have been taken aback, if not downright shocked, by the recently announced draft Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill, 2021 that focuses exclusively on making a two-child norm a law, specifying various incentives and penalties for contravention. The burgeoning negative...

-IndiaTogether.org A survey of nearly 15,000 women in the aftermath of the pandemic-induced lockdown last year reveals specific ways in which women are particularly vulnerable to risks. This could provide valuable input for new interventions, writes Gaurav Gupta. After India's first nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, 2020 a flurry of important, rapid research was conducted by multiple private, public, and social sector organisations to understand the effects of the pandemic....

-Newsclick.in Population growth is already slowing down across faiths. The Bill only serves to foster division. The proposed UP Population Control Bill, brought in by the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in India’s largest state Uttar Pradesh, appears to be driven more by imagined fears than by any worries of population growth. Data over the past few decades shows clearly that population growth is slowing down irrespective of administrative action or inaction. This...

-TheWire.in The Bill promotes a two-child policy, and says those in violation will be barred from contesting local body elections, applying to government jobs or receiving any government subsidy. New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh Law Commission has released a draft population control Bill – but had it been a law, 50% of the Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs in the state would have been in violation. The Bill promotes a two-child policy, and says...