-IANS Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda on Thursday said there was a need to set up a special task force comprising both government and private healthcare sectors to ensure quality healthcare for every citizen of India. "Our vision is to provide universal healthcare coverage despite several challenges in the health sector. It can better be done by a special task force comprising the ministry and representatives of private healthcare sector," Nadda said. He...

-Hindustan Times India witnessed an impressive surge in the number of women owning or managing agricultural land in 2001-11 with landholdings under them registering a faster growth in this period than the ones controlled by men, shows a World Bank-backed study that points to improved gender equity in land rights. Though the amount of farmland controlled by women in the country is still marginal at 10% of the total, the number of...

-TheWire.in The judgment of the Supreme Court in the Raj Bala case deals a near fatal blow to the health of the Indian democracy. In essence, the court has held that those who have no formal education, those who have no “functioning toilet” and those who are in rural indebtedness cannot contest an election for the position of sarpanch. The judgment effectively disenfranchises – and it recognises this – 68% of Scheduled...

-Livemint.com The report, titled Limited Access Restricting Expression also makes a case for expansion of quality Internet access and last mile connectivity in both urban and rural India New Delhi: India needs to improve the right to freedom of online expression, according to recommendations of a report by the Digital Empowerment Foundation. The report, titled Limited Access Restricting Expression, and released on Thursday, also makes a case for expansion of quality Internet...

-Business Standard Unless irrigation expands, agriculture will not be drought-proof Even as India celebrates the golden jubilee of the Green Revolution, the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) has come out with data indicating that nearly 70 per cent of farmers subsist on economically unviable farm holdings of less than a hectare in size. Over one-fifth of farm households report salaried employment, and not farming, as the prime source of their income. Around...