-The Hindu Business Line   World Bank economist says there is ‘policy fatigue' Washington DC: Improving farm productivity is central to the Indian government's goal of achieving ‘faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth', the World Bank has said in a recent report ‘Accelerating Agricultural Productivity Growth in India - Issues and Opportunities'. Although agricultural growth rebounded after 2004-05, two worrying trends emerged: concerns about the nature and sustainability of growth, the report observes, adding...

-The Statesman Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed anguish over suicides by farmers, whose condition has not improved despite the high rate of economic growth. The reason for this distressing state of affairs is that economic policies are badly crafted. The primary effort of the Government has been to increase agricultural production. The price factor is not taken into consideration, the perception being that the farmer will be better off...

-The Hindu Business Line To address the water crisis, recycling plants can work as PPPs and industry should switch to using such water Some stark facts: India has 18 per cent of world's population with only 4 per cent of total usable water resources. Annual per capita availability of water has declined by 15 per cent in the past 10 years and is estimated to fall to as low as 1140 m3/year...

-The Business Standard   The Jan Dhan Yojana has a lot of gaps to fill The NDAs financial inclusion programme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, targets poor households unlike similar schemes of the UPA, which focussed on villages. The scheme targets rural and urban unbanked households. That said, the scheme too has its own share of flaws. Misplaced enthusiasm A chat with poor casual workers after the launch of the Yojana gave the impression that...

-The United Nations More than 800,000 people commit suicide every year - around one person every 40 seconds - according to the United Nations health agency's first global report on suicide prevention, which was published today. "This report is a call for action to address a large public health problem which has been shrouded in taboo for far too long," said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). The report...