The National Advisory Council (NAC) — which has been working hard over the last month to try and narrow down its differences with the Planning Commission and the government on the contentious issue of food security — is meeting here on Saturday to look at an amended proposal. The NAC's food hardliners have finally accepted, after several informal interactions with the Commission and government representatives, that universalisation of food security...

Dalit activist Meena Kandasamy: This is something that has to be changed Dalits make up more than 16% of India's population of one billion. Yet, despite years of campaigning and state intervention, many of them still face discrimination in society. Their hardship has been highlighted at an exhibition in London. A little girl leans against a stained turquoise concrete wall. You first notice her face, which appears deep in thought - then your...

The Union government's efforts to provide quick and quality insurance services to 38 lakh rural landless agricultural labourers in the state under the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) have suffered a serious setback with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) refusing to renew the scheme. The LIC's decision has not only resulted in hardships not only to the poor households over the past six months but also to the children...

Businesses and policy-makers need to recognize the tremendous economic value of ecosystems, as well as the social and economic costs of losing such natural resources as forests, freshwater, soils and coral reefs, a new United Nations report released today said. The report by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), a body hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), seeks to galvanize the world to recognize the economic consequences of failing...

Malaria kills around 205,000 people in India each year, more than 13 times the estimate made by the World Health Organization, researchers said on Thursday. WHO, the public health arm of the UN, estimates that approximately 15,000 people a year die from malaria in India, and 100,000 adults worldwide. The researchers called for both figures to be urgently revised so they do not hurt funding for prevention, rapid diagnosis and treatment. “If you...