-Newsclick.in NSSO, Livestock Census, NCRB, even Census data, are slowly getting strangled by delays but more so by wilful omissions of parts. In the past five and a half years, several key data releases have been excised, mangled, delayed or even suppressed. Since these are all generated, collated and processed by dedicated departments of the central government, it is not a leap of imagination that there is some deliberate intent behind this. Stray...

-Frontline.in Interview with Professor H.P.S. Sachdev, Member of the Technical Advisory Group, CNNS. The objective of the very first nationally conducted Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) was to collect nationally representative data on the nutritional status of preschool, school-going and adolescent children. The survey took on board many technical and medical experts to work on its design. One of them was Professor H.P.S. Sachdev, a Senior Consultant in Paediatrics and Clinical Epidemiology...

-The Indian Express At a privately-run centre in South West Delhi, where residents include destitute women and victims of trafficking aged above 18 years, “a resident reported a shocking incident of sexual abuse where she was made to remove her salwar and chilli powder was inserted in her vagina. New Delhi: In a report to the Delhi government, a Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) audit of shelter homes for women...

-The Telegraph The government plans to frontload additional expenditures in the rural job scheme to boost demand in the rural economy New Delhi: Rural development schemes are likely to get more funds than allotted in the budget to boost consumption growth, which has fallen to a seven-year low in the villages. The Narendra Modi-government plans to frontload additional expenditure in the rural job scheme and highway construction projects to boost demand in the...

-Livemint.com * A field report from the agriculturally prosperous heartland reveals a lacklustre festival of lights * Delay in farm loan waivers has worsened farmers’ credit score. So, financiers are unwilling to advance new loans to them for buying farm equipment SRI GANGANAGAR: "How are you going to celebrate Diwali?" My question gets Roopa Ram, an elderly farmer, so amused that he thinks it’s important to do some explaining to a reporter from...