-Ecnomic and Political Weekly Despite recent improvements in the maternal health scenario in rural Assam, it remains the state with the highest number of maternal deaths in the country. Institutional delivery, antenatal care, and Postnatal care have been actively promoted by the state to deal with the situation. However, state policies are still incongruously geared towards addressing the issue without taking sufficient note of the various sociocultural impediments in the way...

-India Today Geography of rice and wheat has been transformed with Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh generating surpluses Almost 50 years ago, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri went on air to appeal to Indians to skip a meal a day. Foodgrain supplies had come under strain after the 1965 drought, and the patriotic ethos cautioned against over-consumption: what you ate left that much less for the rest. Today, it is...

-Economic and Political Weekly How will the amendments to the Factories Act affect women workers? How do women view the "protections" and night work? Apoorva Kaiwar (akaiwar@yahoo.co.in) is a labour lawyer and consultant on issues of gender and labour. The central government is proposing to amend several labour laws. The process of amending them has been underway since 2011, which means that it is not only the new dispensation that is eager to...

-The Business Standard K'taka government has announced this to enhance the jowar and ragi production in the state Dharwad: The Karnataka State Agriculture Commission has come forward with plans to tag the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme with jowar and ragi farming to help the farmers overcome the problem of high labour component. Commission chairman Prakash Kammaradi said here on Monday that the state government had announced schemes to...

-PTI New Delhi: After the recent failure of WTO talks, India on Wednesday hoped that by September it will convince the multi-lateral trading body about the need for developing nations to give subsidies on food stocks so that it is relieved of the "draconian sword". Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitaraman told Rajya Sabha that the tough position adopted by India and the recent talks in Geneva had been supported by many least developed...