-The Hindu Younger daughters-in-law in rural families have shorter children on average, says research There is new evidence that the unequal social status of women could play a significant - and as yet ignored - role in explaining India's "inexplicably" high under-nutrition levels. For its per capita income, India has stubbornly higher than expected levels of stunting and under-weight among children and adults - the so-called "Asian enigma" which, with countries like...

-The Hindu Per capita entitlements under the food security bill will not cover beneficiaries as comprehensively as household entitlements The government hopes to secure in this session of Parliament, approval for the National Food Security Bill (NFSB) so that it can replace the food security ordinance. The NFSB, on which the ordinance is based, guarantees supplementary nutrition services through anganwadis for all children under six, midday meals for schoolchildren, and, very importantly, maternity...

-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 Economic Times NEW DELHI: India is preparing to give mobile phones to each female member of a household, who has worked for 100 days in 2012 under a rural employment guarantee scheme run by the government, as per an internal presentation of the telecom department. If implemented, this would be the latest sop the government is planning to woo a population ahead of a slew of state polls leading up to...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Keen to hasten the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today shifted a key department overseeing its implementation from the Planning Commission to the Finance Ministry for "better coordination" and "resolution of inter-ministerial issues". The DBT programme has covered over 2.8 million LPG transactions valued at Rs 116 crore in the seven weeks since it was launched, the Prime Minister's Office said here today. "In order to...