-The Hindu International experience shows that any coercion to have a certain number of children is counter-productive and leads to demographic distortions, the Centre said in December 2020 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat’s call for a “population control policy” on Wednesday may not be on the same page as the government’s affidavit in December 2020 which said it cannot coerce couples into having a “certain number of children” in a bid...

-Business Standard "The global goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 is likely to be missed: by then, about 600 million people will remain in abject poverty. A major course correction is needed," Indermit Gill said. About 56 million Indians may have plunged into extreme poverty in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, increasing the global tally by 71 million and making it the worst year for poverty reduction since World...

-Scroll.in Less than half the malnourished children admitted at the district’s nutrition rehabilitation centres since 2021 have gained the targeted weight. Chandni Patle placed Bau Pawara, a feeble-looking 17-month-old baby, on an electronic weighing machine. The child, with bony limbs, was quiet and inactive – unusual for toddlers his age. It was early September, and this was his fourth check-up in two months at the nutrition rehabilitation centre in Dhadgaon, in Maharashtra’s...

-The Hindu A book brought out by NABARD, authored by R.S. Deshpande, says Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana carries the baggage of the earlier failed crop insurance schemes A book on the theme “Rainfed Agriculture and Droughts in India” (2022) brought out by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) argues that crop insurance is not a “perfect medication” any more for farmers hit by natural calamities such as floods...

-The Hindu The government’s fiscal health will be brought into the political discourse with the proposed change, says top Election Commission of India official  The Election Commission of India’s (EC) proposal that political parties disclose the financial ramifications of promises in their manifestos was not linked to the recent debate on freebies, but was aimed at improving the implementation of existing guidelines, a top EC official said on Wednesday. The EC had on...