-Down to Earth Nine states, which have fertility rates well below the replacement rate, will have an aged population by 2030s India’s population growth rate will decline faster than assumed, according to the Economic Survey 2018-19. In fact, the fertility rate in many states has reached the replacement rate. “India is set to witness a sharp slowdown in population growth in the next two decades,” analysed the Economic Survey. "The country will enjoy...

-The Telegraph Late treatment raises risk of deformities: Study Several thousand leprosy patients in India are diagnosed with preventable deformities each year because they fail to recognise symptoms or receive delayed treatment, health researchers have cautioned, 13 years after India declared the disease had been “eliminated”. A study covering Bengal and four other states has found that leprosy patients who delayed seeking medical advice by at least three months or whose healthcare providers...

-The Hindu Aadhaar linkage needed for it to work; States given one more year to use point of sale machines in ration shops, says Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan New Delhi: ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ scheme, which will allow portability of food security benefits, will be available across the country from July 1, 2020. This means poor migrant workers will be able to buy subsidised rice and wheat from any ration...

-Down to Earth The midday meal scheme for schoolchildren is increasingly getting politicised, as the upper class elite wants to impose its own religious/food beliefs on malnourished children Most countries in the world now have some programme that provides midday meals to schoolchildren. School meals have been widely hailed for their multiple benefits — they increase enrolment and attendance, particularly of children from vulnerable groups; contribute to reduce “classroom hunger” and improve...

-IANS * The Kolkata Forum for IT Employees said there has been a number of incidents of unfair labour practices in the past * There are 1.8 lakh employees working in the IT industry in West Bengal The Kolkata Forum for IT Employees on Saturday said it has applied to the West Bengal government for trade union registration in the Information Technology and ITes, Business Process Outsourcing and Knowledge Process Outsourcing industry in...