-The Hindustan Times   New Delhi: "Leave Holiday Homework Worries. Get Holiday Homework for all classes done by Experts," reads an ad posted on OLX, an advertising portal. Teachers may not like it, but it appears that students who despise working on their holiday assignments have found a solution - to get the homework done by contacting some of these "experts". While children laze around through the ongoing summer vacation, there are plenty...

-Reuters   NEW DELHI: The finance ministry is working on a proposal for the new government to cut welfare spending and rein in the deficit in its first budget, to allay fears of fiscal slippage that would increase the risks of a sovereign credit downgrade, officials said. Two senior ministry officials told Reuters the plan would make it possible for Narendra Modi's incoming government to reduce the current year's fiscal deficit and...

-The Business Standard   Agriculture ministry wants review of clamps on holdings; rural development ministry seeks centralisation of records With Narendra Modi set to take over as prime minister in the next few days, the department of agriculture is proposing a comprehensive review of land ceiling laws as a first major reform in the sector.   Land also figures in the to-do list of the rural development ministry. It has proposed centralisation of land records...

-Down to Earth   As India elects new government, the 12th Five Year Plan may no longer be pro-poor MUCH hope is pinned on the 12th Five Year Plan that was declared as the first health Plan by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, while drafting the Plan, also termed it "pro-poor" and promised the maximum budget for social welfare schemes. But as the Plan comes into force this...

-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...