-The Hindu The welfare challenge lies in providing assistance to needy households to ensure adequate diets without creating conditions in which they opt for inferior diets that are too heavy on cereals With the Kerala government’s decision to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from April, the whole country will be covered by the legislation. However, if we expect the NFSA to improve India’s malnutrition statistics, we may well be disappointed....

-Firstpost.com Farmers’ body Jai Kisan Andolan, a movement of Swaraj Abhiyan, in association with various farmers’ organisations and unions has sought a complete overhaul of policy framework related to agriculture and all segments of rural primary production. In a first-of-such-kind effort in the country, Jai Kisan Andolan, led by Yogendra Yadav, will present an alternative budget called ‘Krishi Budget’ on 1 February—the Union Budget Day-from a public platform called ‘Kisan Sansad’ at...

-The Pioneer Centre must come up with a national policy The Supreme Court’s intervention for the lack of a national policy to help calamity-hit farmers is welcome. Regardless of what we have at the moment for them, the country's bread-earners must be offered all possible support to strengthen the economy. While taking up a number of public interest litigations, the apex court found that the Government had no policy to tackle the...

-The Times of India Indians popped more antidepressants in 2016 than ever before, indicating perhaps that they are now more open to the idea of seeking help for mental health problems. Around 10.6 lakh more prescriptions for anti-depressants were written in 2016 than in 2015, shows data collated by health information agencies. While 3.35 crore prescriptions (for new patients) were written in 2015, doctors wrote 3.46 crore new prescriptions in 2016....

-The Hindu As Parliament prepares to convene again after a winter session washed out due to the Opposition’s protest on demonetisation, it is worth asking why political mobilisation against the exercise is proving to be so difficult Demonetisation has been the most hotly debated topic since November 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the high-denomination notes then in circulation would cease to be legal tender. In a single stroke, nearly...