-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The monsoon's late revival has increased sowing of crops by 35% in the past week, but worries about agriculture persist as reservoir levels are low, while planting is still much lower than last year, and only slightly better than it was at this time in the drought year of 2009. The situation in water reservoirs was also worrisome as they were filled up to only 26%...

-The Indian Express Focusing on private asset creation will only exacerbate its design and implementation failures. In his budget speech, Arun Jaitley shied away from taking a tough stand on the MGNREGA. In a seemingly non-controversial comment, he emphasised that "wage employment would be provided under MGNREGA through works that are more productive, asset creating and substantively linked to agriculture and allied activities". The subtext, however, is controversial. As argued below, far...

-The Economic Times The rationale for embedding nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programmes in a development agenda is compelling. And yet, strangely, it has been ignored. Planning and implementation of such programmes require collaborative, consistent and aligned effort across multiple sectors. Currently, we have a myopic vision to pursue narrow agendas. Transformational change requires tackling one of the most obdurate challenges: malnutrition. This blight has a large human impact and a larger economic impact...

-Global Post As the economy grows, so does the suffering. PUNJAB, India - Three days after her mother died, Rajinder Kaur sat quietly on the edge of a rope cot, staring at her sandaled feet as the buzz of her friends and family filled the courtyard of her village home in Sher Singh Wala in rural Punjab. The 20-year-old nursing student, with a girlish frame and long black braid, listlessly recounted the details...

-The New Indian Express SAMBALPUR: Farmers of Western Odisha are staring at a drought like situation with the rain playing truant. The region has received less than 50 per cent (pc) rainfall in June and even this month, the rain pattern has been weak. Although low pressure induced rain in Western Odisha for a few days, it was scattered and not sufficient for agriculture. According to official reports, Sambalpur received 74.37 mm rainfall...