-Live Mint NAC wants Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna to be absorbed into new policy for universal health coverage  The National Advisory Council (NAC), which sets the policy agenda for the Congress party led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, wants the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) insurance scheme to be absorbed into the new policy for universal health coverage (UHC), taking the latter closer to realization.   This is part of the government’s bid to move...

-IPS News World Water Week recently concluded in Stockholm with a special emphasis on the linkages between water and food security. From the worst drought in 56 years in the United States Midwest, to the Karnataka’s drought in India, to the protracted drought in the Sahel region of West Africa, we have also seen how in our globalised world the nexus between lack of water and food security in one corner of...

-The Economic Times While India frets about coal block allocations, massive policy failures have hit people where it hurts most: the stomach. While granaries are overflowing and sugar piling up, one would have expected the prices of sugar and flour to fall, or remain stable. Instead, since mid-July, wheat prices are up 20% across the country and flour prices have also shot up. For sugar, whose prices are up 12% from mid-July,...

-The Economic Times After one failed attempt in 2009, the Delhi government is making yet another effort to make plastic bags history in Delhi. This time the proposed blanket ban comes with zero tolerance to even plastic used to cover school books, magazines and invitation cards. These are some of the provisions of a proposal of the environment department for imposing a ban on not just sale and use but even...

-The Business Standard Govt controls will raise prices of pulses and oilseeds The food and consumer affairs ministry has proposed that stockholding limits on pulses and edible oils be retained for another year beyond October. In addition, it wants these curbs extended to rice, too. This is misguided, and will cause more problems than it wants to resolve. Instead of controlling prices, as is intended, these restrictions on trade will instead...