-The United Nations The United Nations today launched the Zero Hunger Challenge in Asia and the Pacific, calling on governments, farmers, scientists, business, civil society and consumers to work together to end hunger in the region where the majority of the world's undernourished people live. "Sustainable development and inclusive growth will not happen on empty stomachs," said Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the...

-The Hindu     They say Supreme Court-appointed panel's recommendations reasonable Even as the final report of the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Expert Committee (TEC) on open field trials of genetically modified crops is awaited, 51 independent international scientists with expertise in genetic engineering and biosafety protocols have approved the panel's Interim Report. The report has called for a 10-year moratorium on open field trials of Bt food crops until adequate regulatory mechanisms and safety...

-Frontline It is the goal of social revolution that connects the aam aadmi to the judiciary and to its highest institution, the Supreme Court of India. By Prof. G. MOHAN GOPAL WHAT should be the appropriate mea-sure of the relationship between the apex court of a country and its common people? Should an apex court be evaluated by who invokes its jurisdiction, from which area and for what purpose? Is an apex...

-Frontline PESA, which is seen as an enabling law for tribal self-governance, is violated brazenly by both the Union government and State governments in the name of development. SINCE October 2012, the Ministry of Rural Development of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has apparently been engaged in an exercise to evolve a "National Land Reforms Policy". Over these months, the Ministry wrote to various State governments, highlighting the importance of...

-The Hindu     Lakshmi Puri calls for greater political momentum on Women's Reservation Bill "My ambition for my country is it should become a democracy for women, by women and of women. This revolution is happening at the local level but [it] should also happen at the State and national level," said Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and acting head of U.N. Women. She believes much progress has been made by...