The latest to take up the matter and join issue with the ministry is none other than Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who sent a message from Kolkata to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week, asking him not to allow a proposal to serve biscuits and pre-packaged food to pre-school children. Sen also asked the PM to prevent the move to replace cooked food with packaged food as part of the mid-day meal scheme in elementary schools.
More than two decades after deserting their village due to Maoists, around 25 tribal families are planning to return to their native place in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district.
The controversy over whether the government should mandate cooked food or pre-packaged meals at child care centres (anganwadis) and for the mid-day meal scheme in primary schools under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) misses the wood for the trees.
After a child died and six others fell ill on Saturday in Bihar's Vaishali district after allegedly being administered polio drops, a team of doctors from Patna rushed to Hajipur to inquire into it, official sources said.
District nagistrate Ashish Chauhan said the curfew in the 25 villages will be in force from 7 pm to 6 am.
A series of cloudbursts hit different parts of Uttarakhand early on Saturday killing four people while 10 went missing as rivers breached their banks and washed away bridges, officials said.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Wednesday announced five guarantees for women, including annual direct cash transfers of Rs 1 lakh to one woman from each of the country's poorest families and 50 per cent quota in all new recruitments in central government jobs.
After the children consumed food at the Aanganwadi of Lalpur village under Barghat tehsil, they and the assistant complained of uneasiness.
DigiLocker, a government initiative for storing documents and verifying credentials online, is gradually replacing the need for paper.
Though the legislator of Rupohihat, Nurul Huda, stopped the drive in Sitalmari area of Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary for a while claiming it was illegal, the exercise resumed later, a senior official said.
Budget for women and children welfare increased from Rs 1,56,528 crores to Rs 1,84,632 crores for 2017-18
"Fish is a good source of protein and it can overcome malnutrition in areas where fish is available in abundance," she said.
The Assam government on Tuesday began clearing nearly 1,900 hectares of forest and government land in Sonitpur district, affecting 12,000-odd people who were allegedly staying there illegally for decades, a senior official said.
Responding to a question, he said, "It may also deal with fake news, though there is no specific mention in this regard."
The Congress has so far announced 82 candidates for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls beginning April 19.
As rural areas see a rise in COVID-19 cases, the Centre on Sunday issued new guidelines for containment of the virus advising that peri-urban and rural areas plan a minimum 30-bedded COVID Care Centre for asymptomatic cases with comorbidities or mild cases where home isolation is not feasible.
'I can only say that it was a revenge killing. We have seen everything from inside our houses. We ran into our dwellings on hearing a mob approaching Sonu's house and hurling bombs. After that, I don't know anything'
Speaking after interacting with gram panchayats and pani samitis/village water and sanitation committees (VWSC) on the Jal Jeevan Mission, Modi said the mission is not just about bringing water to people but it is also a decentralisation movement that is village and women-driven.
Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan held a high-level review meeting through video conference with the chief secretaries, health secretaries and National Health Mission (NHM) directors of these states, the health ministry said. 'These states are witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases since the last three weeks as lockdown rules have been eased and inter-state migration has been allowed,' the ministry said in a statement.
The drive met with opposition in Tinsukia in upper Assam leading to lathicharge by the security forces, while in Sonitpur the alleged illegal settlers claimed that it was launched about a week before the stipulated date.
The survey will encompass various indicators of backwardness such as occupation, educational qualification along with the type of educational institutions attended by members of the households to gauge the social and educational conditions of the backwardness in Odisha, the official said.
The government has ordered monoclonal antibody from Indian Council of Medical Research to treat the child. It is the only available anti-viral treatment for Nipah virus infection, though it has not been clinically proven yet.
Wielding a broom, the prime minister took part in the drive along with fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuriya.
People spent a sleepless night as a series of aftershocks shook Assam after a strong 6.4 magnitude earthquake caused extensive damage to buildings.
A mock drill will be held on Tuesday across a number of health facilities in several states and Union Territories to ensure their readiness to deal with any eventuality related to COVID-19, following an advisory by the Centre.
In an ambitious initiative aimed at empowering women, the government has proposed to set up an exclusive bank for women having branches across the country which may see merging of the Bharatiya Mahila Bank launched last year by the UPA government.
Although there is a lot of talk on social justice, Dalits in Tamil Nadu face atrocities of some kind every other day, Governor R N Ravi has said, apparently targeting the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam after a gap of about a month.
Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore and Uttam Ghosh report from Maharashtra's Malnourished Corridor, visiting an anganwadi, which is often the first line of defence in tackling malnutrition.
'I set out really early because it gets very hot.' 'The soles of my feet burn by the time I have finished going house to house on foot.'
The UNICEF said an estimated 2.4 million children have been affected by the recent floods in the country.
The survey will benefit a population of at least 35,000, mainly tribals, to get patta (title deed) for the land they were possessing.
The restrictions imposed in March led to a sharp slump in demand from bulk consumers like hotels, restaurants, and roadside tea stalls, as they were forced to shut down. Sales of major milk products such as ice-cream, butter milk, and cheese, which usually spike during summer, also dropped.
The supplementary nutrition programme and the Poshan Abhiyaan under the Women and Child Development Ministry has been merged to launch Mission Poshan 2.0 to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach, and outcome, according to the Union Budget announced on Monday.
'I like it when my daughter talks in English fluently. She is smarter in maths too than her village friends'
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday lifted the restriction on weekend worship in temples with effect from today and also permitted all shops including restaurants and bakeries to function till 11 pm.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it has been decided to fix the minimum wages at Rs 350 per day for unskilled non-agricultural workers for 'C' category areas keeping in view the modalities of fixing minimum wages.
All medical establishments like medical colleges (allopathic, homoeopathic and AYUSH), health centres, private healthcare units and polyclinics have been asked to send the list of workers, the senior official of the Health department told PTI.
AI, IoT, 3D printing, drones, data storage, quantum computing etc are all re-writing world economic order, the FM said.
The affected children, aged below 5, were admitted to a government hospital, where their condition is stated to be stable, the district official said, adding three healthcare workers will face action for the lapse.
In an otherwise agriculture- and public health-focused Union Budget 2018-19, artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain technology, internet of things -- jargons that found little or no mention in the previous Budgets -- managed to make their presence felt.
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