-Livemint.com It is important to give preference to those approaches that help the poor the most for every rupee spent, no matter how they are labelled Sometimes in life, it is clear that the direct approach isn’t the best one. This is true in many areas, even when it comes to policymaking. Take, as an example, the area of extreme poverty. It seems logical, at first, that the most effective response should...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A study has ranked India 145 among 195 countries and lower than China, Bangladesh and Sudan on health care access and quality, measured through their capacities to prevent premature deaths from 32 diseases. The study by an international consortium of Researchers has revealed India's gains over time but widening gap between best and worst scores within the country, a finding that public health experts say possibly reflects inequities...

-Financial Express Among the six states studied by Icrier, Gujarat spends the most on agriculture R&E (0.59%), followed by Bihar (0.50%), Punjab (0.41%), Odisha (0.25%), Uttar Pradesh (0.17%) and Madhya Pradesh (0.24%). The government’s expenditure on agricultural research and extension education services is not only very low but also heavily skewed in favour of crops, even as the dairy sector has a rapidly increasing share in the gross value of output...

-Livemint.com Investments in irrigation, combined with better-quality seeds, can dramatically improve returns to farming Global attention has been devoted to water scarcity and its effect on Indian farmers. However, new analysis from Indian Researchers suggests that far more good could come if irrigation were combined with seed improvement. Tata Trusts and Copenhagen Consensus have commissioned new research by noted experts from India and around the world, looking at measures that would help Indian...

-Scroll.in Several villages have erected stone slabs inscribed with details of constitutional provisions, laws that safeguard tribal rights over land and natural resources Budhua Munda greeted the visitors to his village in Jharkhand as they all settled down on a bamboo straw mat spread under the shade of a tree on the morning of May 1. The Adivasi youth, who wore a blue track pant and a white T-shirt, then pulled out...