-Frontline.thehindu.com The RBI’s proposal to loosen regulations for private lenders in the microfinance space will have disastrous consequences for the poor, especially women in rural areas. Microfinance, a category of financial services aimed at serving people from low-income households who lack access to conventional banking credit and services, was originally designed by international finance capital institutions such as the World Bank as an alternative to providing direct concessional credit to the poor—which...

-Livemint.com The easy part is nearly done but India lacks the data back-up and processes needed now for full coverage To quicken the pace of covid vaccination and its equitable distribution, we are working with over 500 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across 12 states. By end October, our effort will scale up to over 3,000 PHCs across some 20 states, helping serve about 100-120 million people in a wide range of geographies—from...

India faced a second and worse wave of COVID-19 pandemic a few months back. The unemployment problem is looming large in the country. At this juncture, the country requires journalism to tell the stories of courage, of loss and grief and also of resilience, of the state of preparedness and about the efforts being made by communities, individuals, civil society and government. For better media coverage of critical issues like human...

-Down to Earth Productivity of released varieties of pulses is much lower than the notified variety of lower-yielding ones  When it comes to pulses, India stands out: The country produces a quarter of all pulses in the world and consumes 27 per cent — more than any other. India is also the largest importer of pulses. Madhya Pradesh is a major pulse-producing state in the country; it caters to 32 per cent of...

-Livemint.com * Amid soaring cooking oil prices, India has a new plan to grow oil palm locally. Is the solution worse than the problem? * India plans to add about 2.5 million tonnes of home grown crude palm oil by 2030. Its ₹11,000-cr national mission on oil palm focuses on north-east and Andaman and Nicobar Islands M V. Ramoji Rao is a seasoned dentist and a busy one too. It’s not easy to...