Representatives of around 20 civil society organizations and NGOs met the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley as part of pre-budget consultation on social sector on 12 January, 2016. Immediately after the pre-budget consultation, a press conference was held by some of these organizations to convey the media persons what demands/ suggestions were made.   Subrat Das, Executive Director of Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA, http://www.cbgaindia.org/) informed us that during...

-SciDev.net Nearly half the children in India are stunted Maternal height is the strongest determinant of childhood undernutrition Investments should focus on improving social circumstance and dietary diversity BANGALORE: Nearly half the children in India suffer from stunting because mothers are uninformed, financially incapable or stunted and undernourished themselves, says a study conducted by the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston and published by Social Science and Medicine last month.   The highest...

-The Hindu Ahmedabad: With less than normal monsoon this year, Gujarat is set to face a major water crisis in summer as most of the dams and reservoirs in the State have less than 50 per cent storage. Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has already declared that the farmers should not demand water for irrigation this year as the available water will be used only for drinking. Except the Narmada dam in south...

-India Today West Bengal: "Kerosene is sold at Rs 40 per litre in the market. Now the money will be saved, thanks to the solar lamps. We are really grateful to the solar aid," said Kasinath Mahata, one of the villagers. It was celebration time for the people of Pandri, a village in the Purulia district of West Bengal, illuminated with lightening after years of hassle. The excitement doubled when the village...

-The Hindu We need to provide full Internet at prices people can afford, not privilege private platforms. This is where India’s regulatory system has to step in The airwaves, the newspapers and even the online space are now saturated with a Rs. 100 crore campaign proclaiming that Internet connectivity for the Indian poor is a gift from Facebook which a few churlish net neutrality fundamentalists are opposing. In its campaign, Facebook is...