The draft Food Security Bill makes it compulsory for state governments to pay a food security allowance to targeted sections in case of failure to supply foodgrain through a sweeping welfare scheme targeted at nearly three-fourths of the population. The amount will be decided by the central government. The draft bill also presses for a radical overhaul of the food distribution system by giving incentives to independent agencies that procure...

Dr Binayak Sen has given a double blow to the state administration of Chattisgarh. First, the Supreme Court rejected the sedition charges levelled against him for which the state courts found him guilty. And then he was appointed to the 40-member steering committee on health in the planning commission. The Chattisgarh government has been vocally protesting against Sen's appointment, saying that he still remains a convict out on bail and should...

-The Business Standard   The United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-Posco outfit active in the project site of the South Korean steel major in Orissa, has formed a core committee to hold discussion with the revenue divisional commissioner (RDC), Central range, on its long pending demands related to the project. The discussion is scheduled for tomorrow and is expected to revolve around UAC’s six prominent demands regarding higher compensation to the project...

-The Hindu   Rajasthan's tribal district of Banswara chosen for new initiative It was in 1959 that Jawaharlal Nehru launched Panchayati Raj in Rajasthan's Nagaur district NRLM will organise, mobilise poor families in groups, impart training for starting enterprises United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi will launch the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) in Rajasthan's tribal district of Banswara on June 3. After the launch of Panchayati Raj in the State's predominantly-rural Nagaur district by...

The commission plans to file several cases under the SC & ST Act The battle of Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh's Greater NOIDA area, where violence raged recently over the contentious issue of land acquisition, promises to get bigger. On Thursday, the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes decided to summon the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police of Gautam Budh Nagar district, where the twin villages are located, to seek a...