-The Hindu Business Line That’s the mission Indradhanush has undertaken, so that India’s children get a better chance at life A shot in the arm is all it takes to protect our children from numerous life-threatening diseases. Five lakh children die every year due to vaccine-preventable diseases; 95 lakh are at risk because they are unimmunised or partially immunised. The figures are unacceptable for an immunisation programme which has been operational for...

-Reuters NEW DELHI: Government's main program to fight child malnutrition has been hit by budget cuts that make it difficult to pay wages of millions of Health workers, cabinet minister Maneka Gandhi said on Monday in a rare public criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies. The government in February slashed social sector budgets to boost infrastructure spending in a bid to fasten the pace of economic recovery. States were asked to...

-DNA When it comes to farmers, the government has precious little to offer The monsoon season is over. With 14 per cent shortfall in the amount of rains, and with nearly 39 per cent of the cropped area in the country hit by a crippling drought, I was expecting the Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan to announce a series of monetary benefits and exemptions in credit repayments for farmers....

-The Hindu Business Line The entire tea industry in India faces an uncertain future. And young people don’t want to work in tea gardens anymore After a steady run for nearly a decade, the tea industry is now facing tough times. Both, production of gardens in the organised sector and leaf prices are virtually stagnating. And exports no longer hold out much promise. Between January and July this year, all-India production was 553.21...

-Down to Earth In the run up to World Food Day on October 16, a Food and Agriculture Organization report focuses on the role of social protection in breaking the cycle of rural poverty The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) annual report on the State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2015 explores the potential of social protection programmes in developing countries to tackle hunger and poverty. What is social protection? Social protection programmes...