-PTI New Delhi: “Not a single drop of river Ganga has been cleaned so far,” the National Green Tribunal on Monday observed, rapping the government agencies for “only wasting public money” in the name of the cleaning project. The tribunal asked the government agencies about how they were executing the Prime Minister’s ambitious ‘Namami Gange project’ and said it does not want the “drama” regarding complaints between the Centre and Uttar Pradesh...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's government-funded health insurance schemes have increased patients' access to hospitalisation but failed to reduce their households' personal out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, the most comprehensive review of the schemes so far has found. The review by public health analysts has found increases ranging from 12 per cent to 244 per cent in hospital-based services across the country since the schemes were launched a decade ago. But there is no...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government appears to have again opted for the money bill route, this time to implement new provisions on political parties' funding, to "sidestep" the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA is in a minority. A money bill can be introduced, amended and voted on only in the Lok Sabha. They are referred to the Rajya Sabha but it cannot vote on them, nor can it...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre has proposed making food fortification mandatory for all staples like rice, wheat flour, edible oil and milk to fight malnutrition but some experts have urged a cautious approach, warning of hidden costs and unproven health benefits. The Telegraph had reported in January 2016 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pushed the idea of universal fortification - addition of key vitamin and minerals to foods to improve...

-Livemint.com Krishi Kalyan Cess, a 0.5% cess on all taxable services introduced last year to support a drought-hit farm sector, will raise Rs 9,000 crore in 2016-17 New Delhi: Krishi Kalyan Cess, a 0.5% cess on all taxable services introduced last year to support a drought-hit farm sector, will raise Rs 9,000 crore in 2016-17, budget documents presented in the parliament on Wednesday showed. The central government is spending money from this corpus...