-IANS New Delhi: The government is not trying to curtail MNREGA and the number of blocks under the act have not been reduced, Rural Development Minister Birender Singh told parliament Thursday. The minister was responding to a calling attention motion in the Rajya Sabha by Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja and others, criticising the move of the government to introduce changes in the rural employment scheme by reducing the...

-Down to Earth Chhattisgarh's much appreciated public distribution scheme is falling apart due to corruption and mismanagement As chhattisgarh prepares for panchayat election at the end of the year, the fate of ration card holders in the state is in limbo. During a verification drive in July-August, the state government found almost 1.3 million "unnecessary" ration cards in the possession of people. These cards have been taken back by the government and...

-The Hindu Business Line Move will be followed by registration at the international level In a first step to protect brand ‘Khadi', a symbol of India's struggle for Independence, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has applied for registration of the trademark in India before moving to claim the international trademark, the MSME Ministry said on Wednesday. The move follows reports of the ‘Khadi' trademark already being registered in Germany, Spain, Hungary...

-Down to Earth New climate report warns of longer droughts, extreme weather, and increase in ocean acidification The world's atmosphere is already locked into a 1.5 °C temperature rise because of past and predicted greenhouse gas emissions, posing serious threat to lives and livelihoods around the world, according to a new climate study commissioned by the World Bank Group. The report, Turn Down the Heat: Confronting the New Climate Normal, warns...

-The Hindu The government must recognise the role low-cost health IT innovations could play in improving diagnostic accuracy, including many that would be useful for rural India The diagnosis of the first patient with Ebola in the U.S. was initially missed in an emergency room late night on September 25. Thomas Duncan, a Liberian national visiting Dallas, Texas, complained of flu-like symptoms and fever, but after lab work and CT scans, was...