-Business Standard Ex Plan panel member also says demonetisation took a huge toll on cultivators and labourers; favours loan waivers, is skeptical about cash support scheme New Delhi:  Former member of the erstwhile Planning Commission, Abhijit Sen, has said that the ambitious aim of doubling farmers’ incomes is impossible target in the period the government has set for it. Addressing an Economics Summit organised by Sri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi,...

-The Telegraph Not time yet for Indians to lose sleep on meat diet New Delhi: An international panel has released the first scientific targets for healthy diets worldwide through sustainable food production that will require Indians to increase their protein consumption and curtail their intake of potatoes. The panel, the EAT-Lancet Commission, has determined that daily healthy diets should contain at least 35 per cent calories from whole grains and tubers, protein sources...

-The Hindu In 40% of blocks, SC/ST community constitutes less than 5% of residents Bengaluru: A first-of-its-kind snapshot of the distribution of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes community in the city reveals a patchwork of caste-segregated neighbourhoods where socio-economically backward castes are ghettoised. Older areas such as Malleswaram or Basavanagudi exhibit a caste-based pattern, perhaps due to urban planning where caste segregation was inculcated by design a century ago. Stark in newer areas However, this...

-Orfonline.org The Index is a good start, but future developments will need to be watched with a critical eye. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ambitious declaration of global aspirations, ranging from eliminating poverty, hunger, and violence against women to providing legal identity and equal access to justice to every person in the world. Adopted unanimously by the 193 UN Member States in September 2015, the SDGs are meant to guide...

-TheWire.in Reports on education ignore the fact that students in public and private schools are vastly different. Reform is necessary, but there are no silver bullets. The ASER report paints a grim picture of what is (not) happening in Bihar’s schools. Only around 24% percent of children in Class III can read a Class II text. A little more than half the enrolled children are present on any given day. More than...