-Down to Earth The midday meal scheme for schoolchildren is increasingly getting politicised, as the upper class elite wants to impose its own religious/food beliefs on malnourished children Most countries in the world now have some programme that provides midday meals to schoolchildren. School meals have been widely hailed for their multiple benefits — they increase enrolment and attendance, particularly of children from vulnerable groups; contribute to reduce “classroom hunger” and improve...

-ThePrint.in Dalit farmers in Gujarat allege that they are being prevented by upper castes from cultivating land given to them by the state government for farming. New Delhi: As many as 116 Dalit farmers from Gujarat approached Chief Minister Vijay Rupani this week for protection over an alleged threat to their life from upper-caste “encroachers”. The farmers, who belong to Rapar and Bhachau talukas of Kutch, allege that their upper-caste counterparts have, for...

-Down to Earth The state also has the highest case of malnourished children (43.9 per cent) in India Imagine a dilapidated room, with no plaster on the walls and any doors, window panes — this is what an anganwadi centre (AWC) in Bihar’s Talimpur village in East Champaran district looks like. More, the building has neither a toilet, hand washing facility nor drinking water. “I have to carry chairs, utensils and...

-The Indian Express Yet again, DNA Regulation Bill cleared for introduction in Parliament. Whose DNA will be stored, when is it supposed to be used for reference? What are the concerns, how is government addressing these? On Monday, the Cabinet cleared the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill once again, paving the way for its reintroduction in Parliament. The Bill had been passed by Lok Sabha in January this year,...

-The Hindu Country needs to double its efforts to control malnutrition Almost one in three Indian children under five years will still be stunted by 2022 going by current trends, according to an analysis of the country’s food and nutrition security released on Tuesday. Over the last decade, child stunting — which is a measure of chronic malnutrition — has reduced at a rate of about 1% per year, the slowest decline...