-The Hindu   The CPI(Marxist) on Thursday described the Planning Commission's definition of BPL as “a mockery and a Fraud” and found fault with the UPA government for not being able to deliver on its two-year-old promise of food security legislation. In an editorial in the latest edition of the party organ People's Democracy, the party referred to the ongoing proceedings on a PIL before the Supreme Court, regarding the Planning Commission's...

The steadily rising rate of economic growth in India has recently been around 8 percent per year (it is expected to be 9 percent this year), and there is much speculation about whether and when India may catch up with and surpass China’s over 10 percent growth rate. Despite the evident excitement that this subject seems to cause in India and abroad, it is surely rather silly to be obsessed...

-The Hindu   The hunger strike called by social activist Medha Patkar of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) in protest against developer Shivalik Ventures at Mumbai's Golibar colony entered its fourth day on Monday. Ms. Patkar's health is believed to be deteriorating. “She has fever, a high blood pressure and bouts of vomiting,” Mukta Srivastava of NAPM told The Hindu over telephone. Ms. Patkar's protest is gathering strong support from all...

The National Advisory Council has proposed a framework for the National Food Security Act. But its potential could be wasted by a flawed approach to the PDS. Two years have passed since the Central government announced that a draft National Food Security Act (NFSA) would be posted on the Food Ministry's website “very soon.” After prolonged deliberations, a detailed framework for this Act has recently been proposed by the National Advisory...

-Mainstream Weekly   DEMAND AT PRESS CONFERENCE IN NEW DELHI A press conference was held in New Delhi on May 4, 2011 to protest against the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest’s “final clearance” to the POSCO project in Odisha. The following is the press release issued by the POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity (PPS-Delhi) in association with NFFPFW, CSD, NAPM, INSAF, and others at the press conference. The ‘final forest clearance’ by the Ministry...