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The Hindu June 19, 2018 In a first-of-its kind endeavour, India is conducting a census of healthcare establishments in the country. Counting health facilities, including public and private hospitals, diagnostic labs, clinics, pharmacies and nursing homes will be crucial to the implementation of Ayushman Bharat — the cashless insurance scheme to be rolled out for ten crore families later this year. Under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, estimated data of over 20 lakh facilities will be enumerated on over 1400 variables in the National Health Resource Repository (NHRR). “It will be the ultimate platform for comprehensive information, of both private and public healthcare establishments including Railways, ESIC, Defence and petroleum,” said official documents released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). MoHFW officials said enumerators will physically visit every street of the ward and the village to identify and record the details of every hea...

rediff.ccom  June 19, 2018 Despite adverse impact of GST implementation, India saw 20 per cent increase in both the number of dollar millionaires and their wealth in 2017 to emerge as the fastest growing market for high net population, a report said on Tuesday. The report, which comes amid growing concerns over social ramifications of asymmetry in wealth distribution, said the number of high net worth individuals grew 20.4 per cent to 2.63 lakh people, while their collective wealth grew 21 per cent to over $1 trillion. "India was the fastest-growing market globally," the report by French tech firm Capgemini said. The country's growth on both the number of HNIs and wealth is faster than the global average of 11.2 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, the report by French tech firm Capgemini said. The US, Japan, Germany and China are the biggest HNI markets in the world, it said, adding that the show in 2017 has increased India's ranking to...

rediff.com June 19, 2018 US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods unless Beijing ceases its "unfair practices", escalating a trade war between the world's two largest economies that hit the global stock markets. Trump, pursuing his 'America First' policy, has been insisting that China has been unfairly benefitting from a massive trade imbalance with the US, now estimated to be $376 billion. During the 2016 election campaign, he had promised to use tariffs to cut the US trade deficits. The White House said that if China goes through with its promise to retaliate against the US tariffs announced last week, the United States will impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. "Further action must be taken to encourage China to change its unfair practices, open its market to United States goods, and accept a more balanced trade relationship with th...

rediff.com June 19, 2018 Pakistan continues to be ahead of India when it comes to possessing nuclear warheads, with China having double the quantity, according to a report by a leading Swedish think-tank. Pakistan is believed to have 140-150 nuclear warheads this year, 10 more than last year. In contrast, India is said to have 130-140 nuclear warheads, according to the annual nuclear forces data by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. “India and Pakistan are both expanding their nuclear weapon stockpiles as well as developing new land, sea-and air-based missile delivery systems,” it said. “China continues to modernise its nuclear weapon delivery systems and is slowly increasing the size of its nuclear arsenal,” SIPRI said. Russia and the United States hold over 92 per cent of the total warheads, it said. SIPRI said nine countries -- the US, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea -- had 14,465 nuclear warheads at ...

The Hindu June 18, 2018 Groundnut sowing in Gujarat is set to dip this kharif season as last year’s crop lies unsold and rains are delayed. Nafed-led agencies procured over 8 lakh tonnes (lt) of groundnut at the minimum support price, but a negative sentiment prevails. A 25 per cent decline in acreage as compared to last year's 16.61 lakh hectares (lha). "Farmers have suffered heavy losses. As against the cost of  ₹ 8,000-10,000 per `bigha’ (about half of an acre), we got a market price of  ₹ 3,500 per quintal on a yield of three quintals. Also, there are chances of crop failure in groundnut due to pest and climate conditions. Hence, most of the farmers in our region have decided to turn to cotton or other short-duration pulses crop," said Lalitbhai Vagadiya, a farmer from Mithapur in Junagadh District. But there is a section of farmers who prefer groundnut crop for this kharif season. Jagdish Rangaliya of Halvad in Morbi district asked, "What else ca...

The Wire June 19, 2018 The collapse of the Bharatiya Janata Party-People’s Democratic Party (PDP) alliance following the BJP’s decision to pull out of the coalition government was not entirely unexpected.  The two were unlikely allies to start with – one a hard nationalist party and the other often termed “soft separatist” by the BJP during the 2014 election campaign for the state assembly – and the fact that the “Agenda for Alliance” they negotiated as the basic text of their government remained unimplemented was further proof of their incompatibility. And yet, we should be clear about one thing – the BJP’s decision to withdraw from the coalition, announced at a press conference by Ram Madhav on Tuesday afternoon – is nothing less than an abdication of political responsibility on the part of the party. Since 2000, when by all accounts truly free and fair elections have taken place in the state, governments in Jammu and Kashmir have always been coalitions between Ne...

The Economic Times June 19, 2018 AirAsia Berhad whose global CEO Tony Fernandes and Indian joint venture have been named in an FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation, denied all allegations in the report of conspiracy, bribery and foreign management control.  “The Board of Directors of AirAsia Group Berhad (AAGB) refutes strongly all the allegations made in the FIR as baseless, unsupported and unjustified and will vigorously challenge these allegations,” it said in a statement.  “We question the motives of the unnamed person, persons or organisation that lodged this FIR but we will co-operate fully with the Indian authorities in accordance with due process provided in law,” it added.  “..all the allegations in the FIR are unfounded and are without any rational basis and are wholly inconceivable in the context of corporate governance norms in Malaysia,”  It also said the AirAsia Group board has had an internal review and concluded that th...