-Business Standard India’s growth in agriculture and allied activities has struggled to reach the targeted four per cent average a year in the first three years of the 12th five-year Plan because of a host of factors. The below-average farm growth is widely expected to deepen the crisis in the farm sector. In an interview with Sanjeeb Mukherjee, newly-appointed member of NITI Aayog and eminent agriculture economist Ramesh Chand  said over-reliance...

-The Times of India PATNA: With election round the corner, politicians are making promises. One such promise has been made by CM Nitish Kumar: If voted to power, he would ensure piped water reaches every household in Bihar. Sceptics ask how come as basic a human need as safe drinking water was not made available to the people of Bihar by their successive government in 68 years since independence. Piped water connection...

-DNA The Centre has always claimed that the country has a robust regulatory mechanism Busting the claims of the Indian government and scientists that the country has a robust regulatory mechanism to test genetically modified (GM) crops, toxic loopholes are emerging. From 2008 to 2014, only 39 of the 133 GM crop field trials were properly monitored, leaving the rest for unknown risks and possible health hazards to common people. Documents accessed...

-Economic and Political Weekly Minerals are a commons, held by state governments in public trust for the people, especially for future generations. With mining, states dispose of minerals for money, and have so far lost more than half their value. As this study shows, over the last eight years of Iron ore mining in Goa, each family of four in the state has lost the equivalent of Rs 13.51 lakh, while...

-Livemint.com World Bank data shows that the number of hospital beds per thousand people in India is much lower than the world average New Delhi: The deaths of two dengue-infected Delhi children after they were refused admission by hospitals (one private, one government) has led to yet another slugfest between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Leaving mud-slinging aside, the Irony is difficult to miss. India,...