-Hindustan Times Many analysts have underlined that the BJP’s below-par performance in the Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections reflected concern, among other factors, about the economy, which slumped to a growth rate of 6% in the three months to June 30, the slowest pace in over six years. The government has already spent nearly 80% of its full-year budget for the flagship rural job guarantee programme, top officials said on Friday,...

-The Indian Express It is crucial for young girls to have female mentors because research shows that it encourages them to persevere ahead, despite difficulties. The person who convinced me to do a PhD in economics was Abhijit Banerjee of MIT, when I Worked with him on one of the first randomised controlled trials in the field of economics in the late 1990s. During my PhD, I had the good fortune...

-Frontline.in Interview with Professor H.P.S. Sachdev, Member of the Technical Advisory Group, CNNS. The objective of the very first nationally conducted Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) was to collect nationally representative data on the nutritional status of preschool, school-going and adolescent children. The survey took on board many technical and medical experts to Work on its design. One of them was Professor H.P.S. Sachdev, a Senior Consultant in Paediatrics and Clinical Epidemiology...

-Hindustan Times Undernutrition, alcohol abuse and smoking are the biggest risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) in India, where the infection affected an estimated 2.69 million people and killed 449,000 in 2018, according to World Health Organisation Global TB Report 2019 released this week. While the poor with little or no access to treatment are at highest risk of disease and death, the airborne infection – it spreads through droplets from coughing —...

-Livemint.com * A field report from the agriculturally prosperous heartland reveals a lacklustre festival of lights * Delay in farm loan waivers has worsened farmers’ credit score. So, financiers are unwilling to advance new loans to them for buying farm equipment SRI GANGANAGAR: "How are you going to celebrate Diwali?" My question gets Roopa Ram, an elderly farmer, so amused that he thinks it’s important to do some explaining to a reporter from...