-The Indian Express The proposed bill makes false promises. The need is to directly address problems of drinking water availability, sanitation, maternal health and childcare The Food Security Bill (2013, FSB) promulgated recently by an ordinance is expected to be debated in Parliament soon. The intention behind the FSB is noble, to eradicate hunger from the country, but the means adopted need serious reconsideration. FSB, under the targeted public distribution system (TPDS),...

-The Business Standard About 35 mn poor families may get benefits from the scheme which has the highest malnutrition rate in India Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan sounded the poll bugle on April 22 by announcing the availability of wheat at Re 1 a kg and rice at Rs 2 a kg to poor families from June 1. About 35 million poor families are expected to get benefits from the scheme...

-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 Business Standard Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the launch of the second phase of the Mukhya Mantri Annapurna Yojana, ahead of the Centre's proposed food security legislation. Edited excerpts of an interview with Sanjay Jog: * What are the key features of the second phase of the Mukhya Mantri Annapurna Yojana (MAY), launched from this month? This will benefit 35 million people, including 5.5 mn below the poverty line...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Summer may still be a couple of months away but in 3,905 villages in 12 districts of Marathwada and western Maharashtra, faced with one of the worst droughts since 1972, people have started migrating to Mumbai and neighbouring Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. A high-ranking bureaucrat said situation in five districts—Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed and Osmanbad—is so bad that the existing drinking water will last only till...