Ensuring food security to all is one of India’s top policy agendas today. Given a large mass of poverty in the country, it is not surprising and no one would perhaps disagree with the need to achieve this as soon as possible. But the varied policy instruments that can be used towards achieving this goal draw sharp differences among the stakeholders. What is food security? The World Food Summit of 1996...

-The Business Standard   Hazare's job is done, time now for people's representatives The term “civil society” has been used and abused at will these past few months in India. In a clever coup staged with the active involvement of a section of the media, a clutch of social activists and retired civil servants was allowed to project itself as “a representative of civil society”. A confused government, a directionless ruling alliance...

The denial of equality, dignity and autonomy to persons with disabilities lies at the core of disability rights. “Disability need not be an obstacle to success … It is my hope that … this century will mark a turning point for inclusion of people with disabilities in the lives of their societies.” — Professor Stephen Hawking, “Foreword,” World Report on Disability. The inauguration of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of...

-The Economic Times Reports say that land acquisition for the proposed mega plant of Korean steel major Posco, off Paradip in coastal Orissa, has come to a grinding halt following incessant protests by men, women and children in the affected villages in the area, especially Dhinkia and Govindpur. It is now glaringly evident that a sorry lack of vision in garnering land for project implementation is stalling industry, new jobs and...

-The Indian Express   Reeling under the pressure of huge foodgrain stocks, well above the storage capacity across the country, the government on Thursday decided to send 50 lakh tonnes of grains to the states at much below the minimum support price (MSP), leaving a window open for export at a later date. “We will look into the issue once the Agriculture Minister is back in town,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is...