-The Times of India Patna: The midday meal (MDM) scheme has come a long way since November 2001 when the Supreme Court (in PUCL vs Union of India and others case) ordered all state governments to provide cooked midday meal to children in primary schools. Though it took Bihar nearly five years to put the midday meal programme, 61 per cent parents were satisfied with the quality of food served, according...

-The Times of India NEW delhi: Inequality in South Asia is much more glaring than what government data shows because standard yardsticks of measuring income don't reveal the true picture, says a World Bank report 'Addressing Inequality in South Asia', released on Tuesday. For instance, the Gini coefficient - the standard measure to gauge income inequality - ranges from 0.28 to 0.40 in this region, suggesting a level of inequality much lower...

-The Hindu Business Line   Commerce Ministry asks poultry breeders to assess risk on fresh health concerns New delhi: India is preparing a second line of defence to protect its domestic poultry industry against competition from cheap chicken leg imports from the US. With the World Trade Organisation recently ruling against India's ban on chicken import from the US on the grounds that it would lead to spread of bird flu, the Commerce Ministry...

-The Hindu Allow Parliament to function smoothly, President tells ruling party and Opposition New delhi: In an apparent expression of displeasure over the spate of ordinances recently issued by the Narendra Modi government, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday asked the ruling as well as opposition parties to find out a "workable" solution to ensure the smooth running of Parliament. "The ordinance route cannot be taken, should not be taken, for normal legislation," Mukherjee...

-The Economic Times NEW delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitely may have made conciliatory trips to Kolkata and Chennai to shore up support for the ordinances to be tabled in Parliament in the budget session, but it has left the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), the farmers' wing of the Sangh Parivar, unimpressed. The outfit has decided to take its agitation against the proposed amendments (cleared as an ordinance by the Union Cabinet last...