-Business Standard Not to estimate poverty lines or absolute numbers; will take these from ongoing socio-eco caste census done by states, focus on impact of programmes Taking note of some hard lessons learnt by its predecessor, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog would not estimate either poverty lines or the number of the poor in the country. The erstwhile Planning Commission, replaced by the Aayog, had got into a big controversy...

-PTI   Climate change will have a "considerable" impact on the dynamics of the river Ganga, affecting a major portion of north India which is directly dependent on it for its agriculture and industrial needs, a recent study said. In a study conducted by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, on how the stream-flow in the basin would change under the changing "land use pattern" and "climate", it was found...

-The Financial Express In a column in The Financial Express, ("Time to tweak priority-sector lending", goo.gl/6O8AOL, February 6), the author made a case for "tweaking" priority-sector lending (PSL) norms which largely stipulate that the commercial banks direct credit towards certain vulnerable sectors and target Population. Specifically, the article argued for revisiting the sectoral targets and cited a reduction in the share of agriculture sector in GDP as a valid reason...

-IndiaSpend.org Drinking water across the country is contaminated by arsenic, fluoride, pesticides, and fertilisers Around 46 million people in India-or the size of the Population of Spain-are exposed everyday to contaminated water, which could lead to serious health issues such as crippling skeletal damage, kidney degeneration, cirrhosis of the liver and cardiac arrest. Water from as many as 78,508 rural habitations is contaminated by arsenic, fluoride, iron or nitrate. Pesticides and fertilisers also...

-PTI NEW DELHI: The Centre has told the Supreme Court that though the country has become self sufficient in production of cereals, it is dependent on imports to bridge the gap between domestic production and demand of edible oil and pulses. Responding to a PIL on increasing farmer suicides in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture said in an affidavit, "India has not only ensured self-sufficiency in most of the agricultural crops...