-FAO MDG target to halve proportion of world's hungry still within reach by end of 2015 Rome: About 805 million people in the world, or one in nine, suffer from hunger, according to a new UN report released today. The State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI 2014) confirmed a positive trend which has seen the number of hungry people decline globally by more than 100 million over the last decade and...
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Don’t bank on it, yet -Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
-Deccan Chronicle On August 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, a financial inclusion scheme that will ensure that at least one member of each and every family in India not only has a bank account with a debit card, but is also provided an overdraft facility of Rs 5,000, a life insurance policy of Rs 30,000 and accident insurance cover of Rs 1,00,000. On August...
More »TB fight, via email
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union health ministry is considering a plan to build an email repository of doctors across the country to directly reach out to them with information relating to healthcare, including standard guidelines to treat tuberculosis. The Medical Council of India estimates that India has over 600,000 practising doctors. "I expect most doctors today will have email (addresses)," health minister Harsh Vardhan today said. "Such an email repository would help...
More »A big bang reform that may be spot on -TT Ram Mohan
-The Hindu The reassuring message in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is that in pursuing its economic objectives, the government wants to accord an important role to the public sector even while relying on market mechanisms The goal is hard to achieve. It is costly and unviable. It will create huge stresses in the banking system. The Narendra Modi government's Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY), an ambitious scheme for financial...
More »For a new paradigm of social justice -D Shyam Babu and Chandra Bhan Prasad
-The Hindu The central policy challenge for the new government is how to sustain social gains while ensuring that Dalits can participate more meaningfully in the economy, by sharing in the fruits of economic growth while contributing as well In his address to the nation on Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his intention to "take a solemn pledge of working for... the welfare of the poor, oppressed, Dalits, the exploited...
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