-Economic and Political Weekly The Chhapra tragedy must ask us how we can improve public services, not scrap them altogether. In the aftermath of the ghastly tragedy in Chhapra, Bihar, where 22 children lost their lives after they consumed a government-provided school meal containing organophosphate pesticides, we must demand of the State a far greater commitment to administering large-scale welfare programmes that are meant to improve, not destroy the life of citizens....

-The Business Standard The tragedy involving the death of children in a Bihar school should reinforce recent efforts to improve the programme, notes Amarjeet Sinha. The sad loss of 23 innocent lives after consuming hot cooked meals in a school in Bihar has rightly shocked and angered people. The highly poisonous pesticide monocrotophos found in children's food and a headmistress overlooking the cook and the children's protests about the oil and not...

-Live Mint We need to further strengthen and resource the mid-day meal scheme, and not consider its curtailment or dilution The bone-chilling tragedy of 22 children dying in Chhapra in rural Bihar after having their mid-day meal at a government school has rightly shaken the public conscience. But we should resist the temptation of simplistic knee-jerk conclusions, or from attributing blame to the local officials alone or to the state administration....

-The Economic Times It is scandalous that inflation in cereals remains above 17 per cent even as food grain stocks with the Centre are close to 80 million tonnes. The Committee on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) paper estimates that the buffer stocking requirement would go up, thanks to the Food Security law, but not higher than 41.5 million as of July 1. The rest is excess. The government must sell off...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The government's earnestness to change the lives of millions untouched by high-street banks is being tested with a proposal from its own department of posts. Armed with an amazing network of offices, the department has sought Rs 1,900 crore from the Centre to launch a bank that would connect with the aam aadmi in Indian villages and far-flung areas where few institutional lenders have a presence. Financial...