-Down to Earth/ India Science Wire Rice can be a vital source of nutrition if some of the nutritious varieties of rice traditionally grown can be popularised. Rice is a staple food for millions of Indians. It can also be a vital source of nutrition and health-benefiting substances if some of the nutritious varieties of rice traditionally grown can be popularised and polishing is kept to a minimum, a new study of...

-The Indian Express Thin Indian babies ‘fatter’ than European babies, greater risk of diabetes: Data Pune: At 28 weeks of pregnancy, Surekha Patil (name changed) from Pabal village in Shirur tehsil of Pune district knows she has to report to the Diabetes Research Centre at KEM hospital in Pune on Tuesday for a glucose tolerance test and a gynaecological evaluation. This is no routine check for 22-year-old Surekha. She has been monitored since...

-The Financial Express The Odisha experience shows that PDS can play a pivotal role in bringing convergence and making India’s two important missions—food and nutrition security—successful in a short time. New Delhi: India’s public distribution system (PDS) is the largest food security programme in the world, which covers nearly 60% of the population and costs Rs 1.45 trillion—close to 1.4% of the national income. PDS has often been criticised for its structure,...

-Livemint.com The malnutrition burden in India remains high despite some progress and there is tremendous inter-state and inter-district variability, the district wise nutrition profiles show New Delhi: The government’s flagship program National Nutrition Mission (NNM) has a clear picture of the challenges it faces in dealing with malnutrition after the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on Wednesday released nutrition profiles of all states and 640 districts of India. The malnutrition burden in...

-The Hindu On the need for action-oriented research in development policy A whole new way of looking at poverty and development policy is taking shape in the world of economics. Traditionally understood as meagreness of material resources, there is a growing realisation that poverty also depletes mental resources. Understanding of how poverty impacts behaviour, what the absence of resources does to a person’s mindset can vitaminise the poverty-fighting policy toolkit. Insights, well-designed qualitative...