-Outlook Raipur: Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly today passed the Food Security Bill aimed at providing food and nutritional security to around 50 lakh families in the state. Chief Minister Raman Singh told the House that the provisions of the bill ensured that adequate quantity of quality food will be available at affordable prices to nearly 50 lakh families. The new provisions will add a burden of Rs 2,311 crore on the state exchequer. Hailing Chhattisgarh...

-Outlook A parliamentary committee has expressed "utmost concern" over lower fund allocation for tribals this year and has pulled up the Tribal Affairs Ministry for not seriously pursuing the matter with the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission for a higher budget. In a report, which was tabled in the Parliament today, the Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment has also asked the Ministry to apprise it of the action taken by...

-Outlook In the backdrop of the brutal rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student in the city, the Indian Women's Press Corps today met Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and demanded systemic and institutional interventions to check the rising crimes against women in the capital. A four-member delegation of the IWPC comprising president T K Rajalakshmi, general secretary Mannika Chopra, vice president Shobhna Jain and senior columnist Neerja Chowdhury met the CM and submitted...

-The Indian Express The 18th Conference of the Parties (CoP 18) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in Doha over two weeks, ending on December 7. There was a range of expectations expressed before the meeting. To resolve competing claims for hosting the conference, it was decided that Korea would host a pre-CoP meeting to help prepare for the CoP itself. The 17th CoP had been...

-The Hindu How gender sensitive are the government’s flagship programmes, probes a report to be released today Why is the concept of ‘citizen’ always a male? Why is the formulation of government policies always male centric leaving out the female counterpart that actually constitutes half the population and contributes in equal measure to the economy? Perhaps keeping this in mind, UN Women and economists have come up with a report on eight flagship...