-The Hindu   A group of NGOs conducted a survey in 11 districts In the wake of the Department of Women and Child Development acknowledging that there are 72,000 severely malnourished children in the State, a group of NGOs conducted a survey of malnourished children in 11 districts. According to the study, the worst-affected are children from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families where parents worked on daily wages. The study, which aimed at studying...

The contentious revised Sports Development Bill has got a fresh thrust with the Aruna Roy-led civil society group, the National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI), throwing its weight behind the move to bring about transparency and accountability in the running of sports in the country. The NCPRI statement signed by Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan along with others like Ms. Roy, Nikhil Dey, Shekhar Singh and Anjali Bharadwaj has...

-The Times of India   Rural development ministerJairam Ramesh has written to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai seeking focused attention to the government's Rs 40,000-crore expenditure on MGNREGS, the flagship rural employment guarantee scheme, and to evaluate funds utilization by states.  The minister has highlighted some deviations made by some states in his communication to the CAG, while requesting the auditor to make suggestions that could help the government "establish...

An unprecedented economic growth during the last decade has also seen increasing malnutrition, hunger and starvation amongst certain sections of society. India ranks 66 in the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) World Hunger Index of 88 countries (Inter-national Food Policy Research Institute). More than 200 million people in this country are denied the right to food. One-third of all underweight children (57 million) in the world due to lack of...

-The United Nations   Global efforts to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS are showing optimistic results, but transformative efforts are needed to accelerate progress, according to the latest report released today by the United Nations agency leading the fight against the disease.   The Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic 2011, produced by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), shows there has been a significant decrease in infection rates and HIV-related deaths, as well...