-The Hindu   An improvement in sanitation and cleanliness will eliminate much of the difference in malnutrition between India and the rest of the world, and across Indian States Historically the greatest advances in longevity and mortality reduction have come not from treatment of individual disease but from public health. This includes modern drainage and sewerage systems (sewage treatment plants), drinking water systems that produce and deliver disease-free water and solid waste disposal...

-The Indian Express Human Development Report: Spending 4% of GDP can ensure social security net. India may have little to feel proud about in the findings of UNDP's Human Development Report for 2014, but the good news is that with ongoing rural employment and school education programmes and some serious discussions on universal healthcare over the last couple of years, it is moving in the right direction. The report gives a six-point...

-PTI   India is the lowest performing country among the BRICS nations in all categories of the HDI with the exception of life expectancy, which is lower in South Africa as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic  In a sign that shows India has a lot of catching up to do, the country's ranking in the Human Development Index (HDI) remained unchanged at 135 in 2013, reflecting little improvement in the living standard...

-The Economic Times The rationale for embedding nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programmes in a development agenda is compelling. And yet, strangely, it has been ignored. Planning and implementation of such programmes require collaborative, consistent and aligned effort across multiple sectors. Currently, we have a myopic vision to pursue narrow agendas. Transformational change requires tackling one of the most obdurate challenges: malnutrition. This blight has a large human impact and a larger economic impact...

-The Hindu Business Line The primary mandate of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) acting under directions of Food Ministry is to service requirements of the public distribution system (PDS) in association with State Government Agencies (SGAs). But over the years, FCI has also been called upon to intervene in managing market prices, albeit with little success. FCI efficiently procures wheat, paddy/milled rice but faces odds while selling surplus grains in the...