-Reuters India’s food price index rose 9.03% and the fuel price index climbed 13.13% for the week ended 6 August, government data on Thursday showed. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee termed the over 9% rate of food inflation as “not acceptable”, but expressed hope that government policies and a good monsoon will help ease prices. “Food inflation at the level of 9% is not acceptable. I do hope the measures taken to remove supply...
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Crop holiday and food security by MS Swaminathan
August is usually the preferred month for family holidays in Europe, because of abundant sunshine and warm weather. In India, normally, this is the south-west monsoon season and a busy period for farmers. This year, however, several farm families in coastal Andhra Pradesh, the rice bowl of the country, are reported to have declared ‘crop holiday’. This is because the rice mills have not been lifting even last years’ crop....
More »MFIs: Still in the doldrums by Shruti Sarma
MFIs in Andhra Pradesh are paying for the sins of their past. Market for new loans has dried up, banks have turned off their spigots while the AP government is content to sit back and watch. It has been eleven months since the Andhra Pradesh government issued an ordinance—later converted into the Andhra Pradesh Micro-Finance Institutions (Regulation of Money Lending) Act—which, the microfinance industry hoped, would be the magic remedy that...
More »Health survey reveals the best and the worst by Aarti Dhar
Six districts have reduced infant mortality rate to 28, which is the UN target to be achieved by 2015 A few districts in the eight empowered action group (EAG) States have excelled by achieving the targets set by the United Nations under the millennium development goals (MDGs). The EAG States are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan. Of the 248 districts of the EAG States and Assam...
More »Results of Annual Health Survey Conducted in Nine States
-Press Information Bureau Bageshwar in Uttarakhand has reported minimum Crude Birth Rate (CBR) of 14.7 while Dhemaji in Assam has reported the Minimum Crude Death Rate (CDR) of 4.5 as per the findings of the Annual Health Survey (AHS) in 284 districts of nine states. The survey results were released by Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Shri K. Chandramouli at a press conference in New Delhi today in the presence of...
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