-FoodFirst.org NEW YORK CITY-Five innovative grassroots groups from across the globe working for democratic access to land, seeds, water and food have been honored with the 2013 Food Sovereignty Prize, the US Food Sovereignty Alliance announced today. Winners of the fifth annual Food Sovereignty Prize were chosen from among more than 40 inspiring projects creating on-the-ground solutions to hunger and poverty, said the alliance, a network of food justice, anti-hunger, labor, environmental,...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: After losing her husband to an illness, Jeyanthi (name changed) was forced to step in as the bread earner for her six young children. With no education, work was hard to come by for her, and existence was at bare subsistence levels. Jeyanthi got by, working as a casual labourer; and as her sons became older, they too pitched in. Life was to take a nastier...

-The Hindustan Times After the political parties, now the Department of Atomic Energy has asked the government to keep it out of the Right to Information Act, saying the transparency law is in conflict with its international commitments which require "strict confidentiality." However, the DAE's demand for immediate exemption from the RTI Act through an official notification is unlikely to be accepted with the law ministry raising a red flag, citing the...

-The Hindu     While denying voting rights to undertrials contradicts the principle that a person is innocent until proved guilty, disenfranchising convicts will aggravate their alienation from society The Supreme Court's decision last month in Chief Election Commissioner v. Jan Chaukidar has attracted significant attention for its perceived potential to address the criminalisation of politics. Justices A.K Patnaik and S.J. Mukhopadhaya ruled that since one of the conditions to be a candidate under...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Political parties banded together to strongly oppose the recent Supreme Court order that legislators be immediately disqualified on conviction and called on the government to take measures to undo the ruling. The all-party meeting ahead of the monsoon session on Thursday saw political parties in one voice protesting the "erosion" of Parliament's supremacy in law-making with leaders claiming the SC order is an assault on their...