-The Indian Express The scheme was introduced in October last year, four months after farmer unrest claimed six lives. The registration for rabi crops — chana, mustard, lentil and onion — will begin from February 12 at 3,500 primary agriculture co-op societies and continue until March 12. Bhopal (M.P.): Encouraged by response to Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (BBY), a price deficiency payment scheme implemented last year for eight kharif crops in the wake...

-The Hindu Chief Justice Dipak Misra says no third party has the right to harass a couple, in reference to honour killings Two adults are free to marry and “no third party” has a right to harass or cause harm to them, said Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, speaking against honour killings on Monday. “When two people get into wedlock, no one should interfere. Neither parents, society, khap or panchayat... no one...

-The Hindu The National Health Protection Scheme is disconnected from primary care. It also needs to be scaled up It is unusual for a health programme to become the most prominent feature of a Union Budget. The previous government missed the bus when it failed to implement the recommendations of the High-Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage (2011). Yet, those recommendations resonate in the Budget of 2018, with commitment to universal...

-The Hindu A large-scale vocational education system would help raise the productivity of individuals and the economy Basic education has slipped in priority in the national policy matrix over the decades. The Census and several other data sets have pointed to various dimensions of the problem. Recently, the Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2017, published by a non-governmental organisation and containing data from 26 districts in 24 States, has some national-level...

-The Indian Express While 33 per cent of female respondents said FGM has had an adverse impact on their sexual life, 10 per cent of the women reported having frequent urinary tract infections, and incontinence, with one reported case of excessive bleeding. New Delhi: Belying the government’s admission to the Supreme Court that there is no data on the existence of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in India, a new qualitative study...