-Scroll.in It is time for citizens to set an agenda for long-term governance, writes Anirudh Krishna in this excerpt from ‘Re-forming India’. Fixing the cycle of poverty – preventing descents and enabling escapes – is eminently possible. Other middle-income countries have much lower levels of poverty. It requires, however, that things work well in the public realm – that everyone, and not just the few who are assisted currently by social service...

-The Hindu Rising CO2 levels responsible: study New Delhi: Rising carbon dioxide levels can accelerate zinc deficiency in crops and thus in human consumption, cautions a new study titled ‘Inadequate zinc intake in India: past, present and future’ by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study states that inadequate zinc intake has been rising in India for decades, causing tens of millions of people to become newly deficient in it....

-Livemint.com * Only 13% surveyed chose cash if it came at the expense of spending to improve public Health and nutrition * The number grew to 35% if the cash came at the expense of improving roads New Delhi: A timely survey conducted in rural Bihar by a World Bank economist and two professors from the Georgetown University to gauge the response of poor people on the raging debate over a minimum income...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Around 40% of the essential medicines in India with lowest MRP are priced significantly higher than estimated production costs, an assessment by the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows highlighting the “exorbitant” profiteering by pharmaceutical companies and the scope for lowering prices of drugs. While innovative and newer drugs for cancer, hepatitis C and rare diseases are out of reach of many due to their unaffordable prices,...

-The Hindu The provision of Health, education and public services matters more than income support schemes It is by now close to 50 years since Indira Gandhi brought the idea of eradicating poverty into the electoral arena in India. ‘Garibi Hatao’ had been her slogan. She actually took the country some distance in the promised direction. Though it had not come close to being eradicated in her time, it was under her...