-The Times of India New Delhi: When minister of women and child development Maneka Gandhi suggested registering the sex of every child in the womb to ensure the girl child is not killed, she probably did not understand the complex calculus that Indian would-be parents go through - when to have a child, how many, and boy or girl. A glimpse into this intriguing decision-making process undertaken by about 2.5 crore...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: While the enormous health benefits of universal and sustained breastfeeding of children are well known, new evidence suggests that there is a significant economic cost as well. Research by medical journal Lancet reports a loss of $0.6285 billion or about Rs 4,300 crore annually. Not just that. If India were to universalise breastfeeding in the coming years, it could reduce 13% of all under-5 deaths...

-The Hindu Muslims, who form 27.01 per cent of West Bengal’s population, “constitute a very large proportion of the poor” in the State, Professor Amartya Sen said. He was releasing a voluminous report on the condition of Muslims in West Bengal titled ‘Living Reality of Muslims in West Bengal.’ “The fact that Muslims in West Bengal are disproportionately poorer and more deprived in terms of living conditions is an empirical recognition that gives...

-The Indian Express The budget is an opportunity for government to address the simmering discontent and disillusion in rural India. The first advance estimates of GDP growth, at 2011-12 constant prices, put the growth for FY16 at 7.6 per cent over the previous year. This is the highest growth rate in the first four years of the forgotten 12th Five-Year Plan. No wonder this makes the Narendra Modi-led NDA government somewhat...

-Frontline.in An initiative focussed on Kerala’s development experience exposes a worrying trend of rising inequality and proposes a strategy for sustainable and equitable growth. THE fourth international Congress on Kerala Studies, organised by the A.K.G. Centre for Study and Research in Thiruvananthapuram on January 9-10, has generated much interest for its focus on a worrying new trend in Kerala’s development experience: rising inequality and marginalisation of large sections of people despite...