-Scroll.in The health bill from crop burning is Rs 2 lakh crore annually. India’s five-year air-pollution-related health bill from burning crop stubble can pay for about 700 premier All India Institutes of Medical Sciences or India’s 2019 central government health budget nearly 21 times over, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of data from a new study. Burning of crop residue or stubble remains a key contributor to air pollution over northern India, despite...

-The Hindu MACHILIPATNAM (Andhra Oradesh): A group of 10 unsung volunteers has helped almost 2,000 fellow Yanadi tribal people to enrol as voters, enabling them to exercise their right to franchise in the general elections 2019. A nomadic tribe, the Yanadi in Krishna district have constantly been on the move in search of livelihood opportunities from one season to the next. With a large number of families living in the mangrove forests...

-The Hindu Decision to stop the scheme for now was based on opinion that unlike other schemes announced in the budget, this scheme entails cash transfer to beneficiaries, “which could sway them weeks before polling.” Bengaluru: The farm loan waiver scheme of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government has been stalled temporarily by the Election Commission of India after the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha election came into force. The...

-The Hindu Why the recent undermining of the credibility of India’s statistical output is especially regrettable Over the past two months, Indian national statistics and the organisations that administer them have faced a volley of criticism. In January, two independent members of the National Statistical Commission resigned in protest, over alleged suppression of economic data by the government. More recently, amidst growing scepticism regarding India’s official statistics, more than a hundred scholars...

-The Indian Express Stress faced by certain industries, drought in some areas hurt patronage of financial schemes for MSMEs, says State Level Bankers’ Committee report Ahmedabad: The Union government’s high profile financial aid schemes meant to support the micro, small and medium enterprises of the country have not performed as well as expected in Gujarat, a report of the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) released on Tuesday showed. Districts such as...