-Down to Earth Document emphasises on importance of a ‘One-Health’ approach to manage and prevent zoonotic disease outbreaks and pandemics About 60 per cent of known infectious diseases in humans and 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, according to a new report published recently by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Preventing the Next Pandemic:Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain...

-The Indian Express Privatisation does not make a self-reliant nation. A decentralised, people-centric approach to development will help Mahatma Gandhi’s conception of self-reliance was of simple living and self-sufficiency. The basic idea was to use local resources and a local workforce for the production of commodities for local consumption to the extent possible, with minimal dependence on the outside world. But the Indian government’s clarion call for “Atmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) has...

-The Hindu Business Line In the thick of battling the Covid-19 pandemic, the CPI (M)-ruled Kerala government gathered Opposition parties on a virtual platform to chart out a common course on livelihood issues and the economic crisis that is simultaneously unfolding. Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac, a trained economist, told BusinessLine that India is facing an attack on economic federalism and there is urgent need for the States to combat...

-Down to Earth Odisha supports its nutrition agenda through agricultural policies, the public distribution system among others Odisha has become the first Indian state to draw up a nutrition budget in the country. The idea of a thematic budget for nutrition is a unique one in India where an inter-departmental approach is followed. Key participants in this approach include anganwadi centres, schools and health institutions. Additionally, Odisha supports its nutrition agenda through agricultural...

-The Indian Express Banerjee, Duflo and Kremer introduced a paradigm shift in approach to alleviating poverty. The Nobel Prize in Economics for 2019 has been awarded to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for “their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”. The approach, popularly known as Randomised Control Trial (RCT), has been the buzzword among development economists for almost two decades. Banerjee, Duflo and Kremer have used this technique (inspired...