-Scroll.in Institutions that provide cheap or free meals are not mere populism – they are vital for the food security of people on the margins. My first experience of a “community kitchen” was in Brazil where we were taken to try out a meal at the Popular Restaurant in Lauros de Freitas. The serpentine queue outside it surprising initially, seemed entirely unexceptional once we had been served: for one real (approximately Rs...

-The New Indian Express NEW DELHI: According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015-16,  the states of Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and the Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry show promising improvements in maternal and child health and nutrition. The first phase of the survey covered 13 states and two Union Territories. All the 15  have rates below 51 deaths per 1,000 live births. Infant mortality rates...

-PTI GENEVA: India needs to increase women's participation in labour markets, build on its experience of its flagship employment scheme and provide social housing for the working Poor to tackle unemployment, the ILO said today as it warned of a grim global unemployment situation. "Decreased labour force participation of women in India is a big problem. It is very important to promote their participation, their involvement in the Indian economy," the chief...

-The Hindu Maternity entitlements are an important policy tool for encouraging better maternal health. This is why we need to do away with conditionality in cash transfer schemes Since the National Food Security Act (NFSA) was passed in 2013, policy circles have been buzzing with talk of reforms in the public distribution system (PDS). Less well appreciated is the NFSA’s potential to call attention to, and help address, Poor maternal nutrition — an aspect...

-The Times of India JAIPUR: Moved by the sight of some students coming to school barefoot in the chilly December weather, Jalore collector Jitendra Kumar Soni, a young IAS officer, started an innovative scheme aimed at providing free shoes to downtrodden and deprived children. Christened as 'Charan Paduka Yojna', the scheme aims at distributing shoes to nearly 25,000 school kids before the Republic Day this year. Soni, who hails from Dhanasar village near...