-Livemint.com Rural development secretary Amarjeet Sinha on how MGNREGS has evolved since 2006 to result in income, acreage, water tables, productivity and fodder availability Agrarian distress and rural distress are terms used interchangeably, but the rural economy today is very different from what it was many years ago, given the diversification of rural incomes and hence incorrect to think one means the other, says Amarjeet Sinha, secretary, ministry of rural development. In...

Good news about digital inclusion often leaves little room for reporting on bad experiences, which netizens encounter in the digital world. A recent report by LIRNEAsia – an ICT [information and communication technology] policy and Regulation think tank working in the Asia-Pacific – says that almost one among five Indian netizens in the age-group 15-65 years had faced online harassment in 2017. In contrast, roughly twelve out of hundred internet...

-The Hindu FSSAI’s The Eat Right Movement seeks to push manufacturers and consumers towards healthier choices The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently started The Eat Right Movement, a nationwide campaign to improve public health and push the food industry to produce healthier choices. Thirty companies, including 18 packaged food companies, have signed various associations with the regulator to bring down salt, sugar and trans fat content in their...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A parliamentary panel examining the functioning of India's food safety authority has sought an explanation for low conviction rates in cases of adulteration and misbranding of food items and criticised the slow implementation of proposals to upgrade state food-testing laboratories. The parliamentary standing committee on health has asked the health ministry to determine whether the low conviction rates in cases of misbranded or adultered food are due to...

-The Economic Times NUH/ ALWAR/ JAIPUR: Thirty-five year old Munna is sipping his midmorning cup of tea with his uncle Ali Mohammed at Sharma dhaba. This resident of Doha village in Nuh district of Haryana has just wrapped up the day at Jaipur’s weekly Hatwara pashu mela (cattle fair) buying 10 buffaloes for himself. He has reason to be vigilant as he prepares for the evening journey across the border. “We have...