-The Hindu The latest GDP data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) raise more questions than they answer. While on the face of it, the projection of 7.6 per cent growth at constant prices for the fiscal year ending March 31 sounds both attainable and impressive, a closer look at the other sets of numbers, including the third-quarter reading, raises some flags. The pace of economic expansion is estimated to...

-The Hindu KARIMNAGAR (Telengana): Thanks to the escalation of prices, the serving of nutritious egg in the mid-day meal scheme is becoming a distant dream in majority of the government schools in the district. Besides, with the steep increase of prices of pulses such as red gram and sky-rocketing prices of the vegetables due to the prevailing drought conditions, students of various government schools are unable to get the nutritious food promised...

-Business Standard India's agriculture growth, measured in terms of gross value added at constant prices, slipped into negative territory in the October-December quarter (first time in FY16) because of a low kharif harvest. However, on full-year basis, the government estimates gross value added in agriculture and allied activities would rise 1.1 per cent, from negative 0.2 per cent in 2014-15, on account of good performance of livestock, horticulture, fisheries and dairy sector. But...

-Business Standard According to NSSO, employment surveys, women participation rates in India fell sharply after 2004-05 India ranks 120 among 131 countries on women labour participation, according to a report by International Labour Organization. Traditionally, this has been blamed on a culturally patriarchal society and rising family incomes that allow more women to stay at home. A new paper by World Bank economists blames a "jobs deficit" for the decline in female labour...

-Down to Earth Several initiatives are demonstrating how the informal e-waste recycling sector can be formalised Savita Devi (name changed), a municipal solid waste worker in Ahmedabad city, used to earn Rs 1,500 per month. When she joined an initiative of GIZ India in 2012, where she was trained to collect e-waste, her income rose to Rs 2,500 per month. “We are now able to hire private tutors to educate our children,”...