-The Hindu The agenda to set up a development bank is a welcome initiative, but questions remain on its design Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s press conference on August 23, announcing a slew of measures to boost the economy and financial market sentiments, had an interesting idea. It was about setting up a development bank. Ms. Sitharaman said: “In order to improve access to long-term finance, it is proposed to establish an organisation to...

-The Hindu Business Line Hyderabad: The number of farmer suicides in Telangana seems to have come down over the past few months. But the agriculture sector continues to suffer from severe distress, and a staggering 12,820 farmers who had taken the Rythu Bima insurance cover have died due to various reasons over the past year. “About Rs.640 crore of the aggregate sum assured has been paid to the kin of 12,820 farmers...

-The Hindu Title holding in-laws refuse to share benefits like Rythu Bandhu Hyderabad: Lakshmi is a woman farmer with a small holding in Gadsingapur village of Pargi mandal in Vikarabad district. She is left with two children, both girls, after her husband committed suicide a few years ago unable to bear the burden of mounting debts. She grew paddy and groundnut in her one acre land for some time, but later has been...

-The Times of India BENGALURU: Insurance regulator IRDAI on Friday came out with new rules that will have widespread ramifications for health insurers and the general public. Insurers henceforth cannot decline coverage to those who have used opioids or anti-depressants. Nor can they exclude those with a history of clinical depression, personality disorders, sociopathy, psychopathy, or neurodegenerative disorders. They cannot exclude kids suffering from development disorders such as Down’s syndrome, cerebral...

  Initial media reports suggest how timely interventions by various official agencies in Odisha prevented loss of human lives when Cyclone Fani hit that state on 3rd May. However, it is essential to also take into account recent official reports by different agencies, which indicate that the impact of the cyclone has been quite severe. A situation assessment report on the impact of Fani cyclone dated 15th May, 2019, which was released...