-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: Flaying the Shanta Kumar panel's recommendations to reduce coverage of subsidised foodgrains from 67 per cent of the population to 40 per cent, food rights activists have urged the Modi government to reject the report, as it would mean going back on the BJP's election promises. The panel, headed by BJP MP Shanta Kumar, was constituted to recommend the restructuring the Food Corporation of India....

-The Hindu Washington: A top global human rights group has criticised the Indian government for its treatment of minorities, lack of protection for women's and children's rights, restrictions on free speech and insufficient support extended for human rights via New Delhi's foreign policy engagements. In its 25th annual World Report on human rights, New York-headquartered Human Rights Watch noted that there was a "spike" in incidents of violence against religious minorities in...

-The Hindu Opposition to amendments in the Land Acquisition Act that were brought through an ordinance by the Modi government recently is growing. Political parties, farmers' organisations affiliated to political parties as well as civil society movements across the country have expressed their reservation to it. On Wednesday, the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal staged protests against the ordinance: across Uttar Pradesh, party activists raised slogans against the BJP-led NDA government, at...

-The Hindu Occupational and geographic mobility across the region are bridging income and consumption-related disparities, says the World Bank report, ‘Addressing Inequality in South Asia'. The findings accordingly underscore the role of urbanisation and private sector participation as being critical to mitigating socio-economic disadvantages. Inequality should be understood in terms of monetary and non-monetary dimensions of well-being, contends the report. The share of the poorest 40 per cent of households...

-The Hindu The proposal, mooted at a review meeting on Namami Ganga, will take six States on board before installation. The Centre has proposed the setting up and maintenance of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in all the 118 cities and towns located along the Ganga in a time-bound manner to check pollution of the river. To be built and maintained through a special purpose vehicle, these STPs will be paid for by the...