-Business Standard Allocation boost likely for schemes on agriculture, irrigation, rural roads In a move to boost rural consumption and alleviate distress in the hinterland, the government is likely to give an allocation push in Budget 2016 to programmes on irrigation, rural roads, soil health cards and agriculture. According to officials, the Union Budget for 2016-17 could see a significant increase in allocation to marquee programmes like the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana,...

-The Hindu Among other things, the government must work towards giving life to the National Health Policy Even as millions of Indians wish each other health, happiness and hope in the new year, they also await news on the new National Health Policy which will become the GPS in our journey towards better health. The draft policy, which was framed by the Union Health Ministry, was placed for public comment just over...

-Business Standard The government is holding talks with states providing cashless health insurance, such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat After providing life cover and accident cover, the government is now working on a universal health insurance plan. To begin with, it will provide a seamless solution to the existing cashless health schemes in states by integrating those with the Centre's direct benefits transfer (DBT) platform. Later, these would be scaled up. "Encouraged...

-Economic and Political Weekly Bihar has been showing signs of emerging from stagnation and backwardness. For this to occur in full, an agrarian transformation is central in a state where urbanisation remains very low. This paper uses longitudinal household data from a sample of villages to explore changes in production relations, land and other assets, agricultural development and occupational diversification. There has been a significant change in class structure and a...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India's horticulture output has outpaced the production of foodgrains third year in a row in 2014-15 despite deficit monsoon, unseasonal rains and hailstorms. Besides, horticulture production also showed continuous increase unlike foodgrain output which reported a decline in 2014-15 as compared to 2013-14. The figures are part of the horticultural statistics, released by the agriculture ministry on Thursday. The report - Horticultural Statistics at a Glance...