-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: Despite being among the top five countries with most children out of school, India experienced the largest cuts in aid to basic education. Its aid to the sector fell by $278 million between 2010-12. While global aid to education is seriously declining: it fell by just over 6% between 2010 and 2011, and a further 3% in 2012, for India it fell by 10% in this...

-The Hindu   Kudumbasree members undergo Food Security Army training   Thrissur (Kerala): The smile on Sheeba Satheesh's face says it all. While working in farms, she had been diffident. "I have been an agriculture worker for four years, but lacked Skills," she said.   The Food Security Army (FSA) training has inspired confidence in her. She and several colleagues in the Kudumbasree movement were a part of the FSA training conducted in the district recently. Says Celina...

-The Hindu Business Line     A government run by a bevy of economists with no sense of the ground reality made mistakes. Some really big ones As the new government settles down to tackle the myriad problems confronting it, it's worth taking a quick glance at the principal reasons for the spectacular unravelling of the UPA-2 government. A defining characteristic of UPA-2 was that it was led by an economist and supported by prominent...

-The Hindu Business Line     A set of technologies that deals with production and marketing constraints can work wonders Indian agriculture faces herculean challenges today; yet, the near- and the medium-term outlook on agriculture and agri-businesses seem bright. Growing urbanisation and changing food habits, malnutrition plus declining areas under foodgrain pose a big threat to food security. Agriculture and food production are strongly influenced by international trade, credit availability, development co-operation, climate change and environmental...

-Live Mint The problem is unlikely to be solved by government action alone   With almost every second child stunted in the country, India is virtually a nutritional basket case. Despite making giant strides in reducing poverty and hunger over the past two decades, India has struggled to combat child under-nutrition. India's malnutrition burden arises from a long history of flawed policy choices and deep-rooted gender inequality, which the new government must address...