-PTI UP registers 30% decline in MMR, while three states – Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu – have already met the Sustainable Development Goal target of 70 deaths per 1,00,000 live births. New Delhi: India has registered a significant decline in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) recording a 22% reduction in such deaths since 2013, according to the Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin released on June 7. The MMR has declined from 167...

-The Economic Times The world’s oldest networked infrastructure, money, is increasingly dematerialising and fusing with the world’s latest networked infrastructure, the Internet. As the network effects compound, disruptive acceleration hurtle us towards financial utopia, or dystopia. Our fate depends on what we get right and what we get wrong with the law, code and architecture, and the market. The Internet, unfortunately, has completely transformed from how it was FIRst architected. From a...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The 10-day farmers' strike in northern and western India ended on Sunday without any clear gains for the agitators or a significant impact on prices. During the " gaon bandh" agitation, the farmers had boycotted wholesale markets and tried to sell their produce directly. They were demanding a minimum support rice that would leave them with a 50 per cent profit and the waiver of farm loans. The Rashtriya...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Congress on Monday asserted that boastful claims and sermons on the economy after the completion of four years of the Narendra Modi government were of little value as the lives of ordinary people had worsened because of reckless decisions and administrative incompetence at a time when the global economy was looking up. Former finance minister P. Chidambaram said at a news conference: "The RBI's Consumer Confidence Survey...

-The Times of India blog Dozens of farming groups determined to stall supply of fruits, vegetables and dairy products to major Indian cities is a clear indicator of growing rural discontent that the Modi government has been struggling to deal with for quite some time, amidst supply glut and depressed farm produce prices. Worried that unhappy farmers could cost BJP dearly in upcoming state and national elections, the government has promised to...