There is some good news amid gloom! Preliminary findings of a survey in India as quoted by the Global Nutrition Report 2014 shows that prevalence of malnutrition among children aged below 5 years has come down between 2005-06 and 2013-14, even though we have a long way to go. (See links and bullet points below). The survey on malnutrition and hunger, called the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC), was conducted after...

-The Hindu Business Line   The Open Government Data initiative is gaining ground, but it needs to be in step with the Central Information Commission Open government data (OGD) is fashionable. Governments and public institutions in Europe and other parts of the globe are making increasing numbers of datasets available to the public by means of national, regional, local or thematic portals, in keeping with their political commitments towards open government and open...

-The Hindustan Times The government is gearing up for its next big mission, a Rs. 113,000-crore plan that aims to usher in a digital revolution by moving everything online, from education to public services to bureaucracy. Aptly called ‘e-kranti', it comes under the Narendra Modi government's ‘Digital India' initiative and is quite simply the world's most ambitious broadband project - but one that will have to overcome countless hurdles, big and small....

-TheGoan.net As had been anticipated, on October 18, the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to decontrol the prices of diesel, the most widely-used petroleum product in the country. Riding on an unexpected fall in world prices of crude oil, the government was able to simultaneously announce a sharp fall in consumer prices of diesel by Rs 3.37 per litre (in Delhi). But the decision...

-The Hindu Obamacare and other such examples make a compelling case for seeking the right combination of roles for the public and private sector in health reform in India Nail or screw? Which is best to join pieces of wood? In carpentry, the answer is that each offers benefits depending on the application. With health care reform, the choice of public or private sector financing, delivery and regulation is subject to a...