-Down to Earth UN agencies urged governments to prioritise school reopening More than 39 billion in-school meals were missed globally during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic due to school closures, according to a new UNICEF report. Since the beginning of the pandemic, nearly 370 million children have not been receiving a school meal in 150 countries, said the report by UNICEF Office of Research and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)...

-Firstpost.com The biggest hoodwink is the starved Poshan Abhiyan 2.0, which though merges the Supplementary Nutrition Programme and the Poshan Abhiyan, has been allocated an amount less than what was prescribed for Anganwadi services in 2020 In a post-truth world, the plain cold statistics in the fine print of the Union Budget 2021 often reveal more than the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's speech. The budget for NREGA labourers has been slashed despite...

-The Tribune Review skeptical about programmes such as ‘Make-in-India’ and ‘Self-Reliant India’ New Delhi: The World Trade Organisation’s review of India’s trade policies has expressed concern about the high level of government intervention in the agriculture sector. Members recognised the importance of the sector in supporting livelihoods and food security. At the same time, they urged India to reform its agricultural policies as they continue to be based on “significant levels” of domestic and...

The World Economic Outlook – a bi-annual publication of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- released in October 2020 has anticipated that the economic progress made by the countries since the 1990s to reduce poverty would be turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of that, economic disparity would rise too in the post-COVID world because the crisis has disproportionately impacted women, informal sector workers and people with...

-Hindustan Times The pilot project would integrate fish-based products into the diets of pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls and children of tribal villages and determine the nutritional potential of adding fish to meals. Bhuaneswar: The Odisha government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with international non-profit organisation World Fish on Tuesday for a pilot programme to include fish and fish-based products in the supplementary nutrition programme for children, pregnant and nursing...