-The Indian Express World Press Freedom Index 2019 reveals an increased sense of hostility towards journalists across the world, with violent attacks in India leading to at least six Indian journalists being killed in the line of their work last year. In the backdrop of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, India dropped two places to be ranked 140th out of 180 countries in the global press freedom index analysis released Thursday...

-Scroll.in It is time for citizens to set an agenda for long-term governance, writes Anirudh Krishna in this excerpt from ‘Re-forming India’. Fixing the cycle of poverty – preventing descents and enabling escapes – is eminently possible. Other middle-income countries have much lower levels of poverty. It requires, however, that things work well in the public realm – that everyone, and not just the few who are assisted currently by social service...

-Livemint.com * Access to electricity is associated with significant improvement in women empowerment, finds a new study * Women's bargaining power increases by 7-10 percentage points because of electrification, says the study Mumbai: In the five years of the Narendra Modi government, India has witnessed near-universal electrification, though the quality of power supply remains sub-standard. Addressing the supply challenge as demand for electricity rapidly increases will be key not only for India’s economic growth...

-Frontline.in The Oxfam India report on employment says jobs remain a huge challenge in India where half of the workforce depends on agriculturefor livelihood. Employment, or the lack of it, has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in the general election this year. Most surveys show that the single biggest concern preoccupying the electorate, especially the youth, is unemployment. The very fact that the government introduced a quota for the...

-The Hindu Rising CO2 levels responsible: study New Delhi: Rising carbon dioxide levels can accelerate zinc deficiency in crops and thus in human consumption, cautions a new study titled ‘Inadequate zinc intake in India: past, present and future’ by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study states that inadequate zinc intake has been rising in India for decades, causing tens of millions of people to become newly deficient in it....