-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union health ministry has asked its senior-most medical officer who oversees the implementation of the government's myriad health and family welfare programmes to go on leave and asked the second-in-command to take his position. In an order issued on Tuesday, the ministry asked Jagdish Prasad, the director-general of health services (DGHS), to "proceed on earned leave for 15 days... today afternoon" and assigned his charge to B.D....

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre's plan to install nearly a million solar-powered water pumps for irrigation in the next three years through a 30 per cent government subsidy appears fiscally unrealistic, energy researchers cautioned on Thursday and called for alternative financing strategies. The researchers with the New Delhi-based Council on Energy Environment and Water (CEEW) have estimated that the 30 per cent subsidy on solar irrigation pumps would cost the government...

-Livemint.com The committee’s suggestions on major reforms include an overhaul of the Union agriculture ministry New Delhi: In a detailed action plan for doubling farmers’ incomes, a top government panel has proposed major reforms to the existing administrative structure. This includes an overhaul of the Union agriculture ministry, setting up a three-tier planning and review mechanism through district, state and national level committees and an annual ease of doing agribusiness survey. The committee on...

-The Indian Express The dairies are blaming the current situation on the crash in international skimmed milk powder (SMP) prices Puntamba (Maharashtra): Since early September, Nitin Dhanvate’s dairy farm business has gone for a toss. Till around then, the 33-year-old from this village in Ahmednagar district’s Rahata taluka was receiving Rs 28 per litre for the milk containing 3.5 per cent fat and 8.5 per cent SNF (solids-not-fat) he was supplying to...

-The Hindu Many States have initiated ‘reforms’ of the public distribution system that are hurting millions of people India’s public distribution system (PDS) is in danger of being derailed in several States across the country. Recent disruptions of the PDS have taken different forms, from compulsory biometric authentication to so-called direct benefit transfer (DBT). The consequences are alarming, but tend to go unreported. Biometric mix-ups Jharkhand is a prime example of this problem. By...