-PTI Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said he was not opposed to the National Food Security Bill and that he would prefer it to be approved by Parliament after a debate. "I am in favour of approving the Food bill through discussion in Parliament, which is the highest forum," he told reporters. Mr Pawar, who had earlier voiced apprehension that huge concessions on Foodgrains could endanger Food security and harm the interests...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Delhi's homeless may be brought under the fold of the Delhi government's flagship Annshree Yojana as the government is having trouble finding eligible beneficiaries to meet the two lakh target set under the cash for Food scheme. So far limited to vulnerable households identified by a survey of 2008-2010, the scheme will now be made "broad based". Under the scheme, a monthly subsidy of Rs 600...

-PTI After the exit of Aruna Roy, government has reconstituted the National Advisory Council by inducting renowned sociologist Virginius Xaxa into the 12-member panel chaired by Sonia Gandhi. The term of the panel, which has been giving legislative and policy inputs to the government ranging from the seminal rural jobs scheme to the latest Food security bill, has been made co-terminus with the term of the present government. Xaxa, the new member...

-PTI MUMBAI: Severely hit by drought since the past few years, the Maharashtra government has outlined a Rs 60,000 crore programme which includes creating decentralised water storage to make the state drought free in three years. "Maharashtra is reeling under severe drought crisis. We have outlined an investment of Rs 60,000 crore over the next three years to ensure that Maharashtra is drought free," Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said at the 177th...

-Zee Research Group, Delhi   A new global study featuring India among other nations has apprehended that malnourished children fared poorly at studies. This study has huge bearing for India as about 40 per cent of its children are malnourished. The Save the Children's ‘Food for Thought2013' report found that chronically malnourished children are 20 per cent less literate than those with a healthier diet, and less able to read or write a simple...