-Livemint.com A new research by ‘Lancet’ shows India ranks 154 out of 195 countries in terms of Access to healthcare, which is worse than Bangladesh, Nepal, Ghana and Liberia Why is it that the world’s fastest growing major economy ranks below much poorer nations such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Ghana and even Liberia when it comes to healthcare for its masses? Last week, new research by medical journal Lancet, on the basis of...

Much to our surprise, a careful relook at the newly released estimates on farm production from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare would reveal that the foodgrain production during the rabi season is likely to fall by almost 1 million tonne between 2013-14 and 2016-17. Please see chart-1. Amidst the celebration of a bumper harvest in the ongoing crop year, it needs to be explained why the rabi foodgrain output...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Five years after sequencing the pigeonpea genome, Indian scientists have identified Madhya Pradesh as the centre of origin of this nationwide staple legume and discovered genes they say will allow the expansion of pigeonpea cultivation. Scientists at the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) near Hyderabad and their collaborators in Australia, China and the US yesterday announced the results of a new study that has traced...

-Deccan Herald Madivalappa Totagi, an organic farmer based in Mugad village near Dharwad, is known for his innovative approach and eco-friendly farming methods. This year, his experiment reached a new level with the cultivation of 20 heritage jowar varieties. The seeds of variety conservation were sown in his mind when he met seed saviour Shankar Langti from Khanapur in Belagavi district. Shankar, has formed a farmers’ group in his village, Gundenatti, and...

-The Hindu India falls 11 places, holds 154th position in Global Burden of Disease rankings Newborns in India have a lesser chance of survival than babies born in Afghanistan and Somalia, according to the latest Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study published in the medical journal The Lancet. In the GBD rankings for healthcare Access and quality (HAQ), India has fallen 11 places, and now ranks 154 out of 195 countries. Further, India’s...