-The Hindu Study says poverty levels fell from 55% to 21% in a decade, mainly due to the lowered burden in the southern States Kolkata: India’s Multidimensional Poverty (MDP) has dropped significantly, largely as a result of the performance of five key southern States. Between 2005-06 to 2015-16, poverty level came down from 55% to 21%, improving the country’s MDP ranking. Following the drop in poverty levels, India moved to the 26th...

-The Telegraph 300,000 indians to be checked for high blood pressure in global drive New Delhi: A nationwide public health campaign will seek to screen more than 300,000 people across India for high blood pressure this month as part of a second global initiative to detect undiagnosed hypertension, a disorder doctors often call a "silent killer". The campaign, called May Measurement Month 2018 and launched on Wednesday, will highlight the need for timely...

-India Water Portal The editor of a new book that lays out alternative futures for India discusses India, democracy and development with a noted journalist. Alternative Futures: India Unshackled is a new book that dares to imagine what India could be. Published by Authors Upfront, 35 author-activists, Researchers and thinkers have drawn upon their experiences to write on alternative political, ecological, economic and sociocultural scenarios that will benefit India in its...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union health ministry has banned the sale of formulations with oxytocin through retail chemists and restricted domestic manufacture to public sector companies amid concerns about the clandestine manufacture and sale of the drug, believed to be misused in the dairy sector. The new rules come into effect from July 1. The government has also banned the import of oxytocin and its formulations, but public and private sector...

-The Hindu Business Line Hyderabad University linguist discovers Walmiki and Malhar, spoken by small communities in Odisha. Hyderabad: A linguist from the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has stumbled on two languages called Walmiki and Malhar both predominantly in the remote region’s of Odisha. The languages are categorised `endangered’ as the number of people speaking is small. For instance Malhar is spoken by just 75 including children from a particular community. These people live...