-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The Naveen Patnaik government is PLAnning to provide edible oil, salt and finger millet - considered one of the most nutritious cereals - to the poor at subisidised rates under the food security scheme. It PLAns to implement a food security scheme on line of the National Food Security (NFS) programme. "Work is on to prepare a detailed PLAn to this effect. We will bring it in the coming annual...

-Livemint.com Overall, while the government is trying to reform the fertilizer subsidy payment mechanism, the challenge is to make sure the new system works before implementation Union minister for chemicals and fertilizers Ananth Kumar’s ambitious PLAn to clear the fertilizer subsidy backlog before the implementation of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme next fiscal year (FY19) has come as surprise to many. The huge subsidy backlog (estimated at Rs35,000 crore as of FY17)...

-The Hindu The findings of the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative will aid in decentralised health PLAnning Policymakers in India need reliable disease burden data at subnational levels. PLAnning based on local trends can improve the health of populations more effectively. Till now, a comprehensive assessment of the diseases causing the most premature deaths and ill health in each State, the risk factors responsible for this burden and their time trends have...

-The Hindu What is the report? The India State-Level Disease Burden report, a first-of-its-kind assessment of causes for diseases in each State from 1990 to 2016, was released recently. A team of scientists evaluated the diseases causing the most premature deaths and ill-health in each State. It found out, for instance, that life expectancy at birth in the country has improved significantly. What is worrying? However, the report indicated many health inequalities among States,...

-National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) 16th Dec, 2017: National Alliance of People’s Movements is deeply concerned that the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016, to which there is massive resistance across the country from the transgender, intersex, genderqueer people, is being tabled in the Winter Session of the Parliament. The Bill in its current form is an unfortunately regressive step back from the landmark judgemnt of the Supreme Court...