-Outlook The faecal matter hits the rotary blades, politically-but we're still staring at a sanitation disaster "Indians defecate everywhere. They defecate mostly besides the railway tracks. But they also defecate on the beaches; they defecate on the hills; they defecate on the river banks; they defecate on the streets; they never look for cover." -V.S. Naipaul An Area of Darkness, 1964 Not...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi's government in Gujarat has countered the CAG's opinion that 66 per cent of children in the state are underweight and claimed that this figure has declined to less than 26 per cent in 2013 due to various steps taken by the state dispensation. "As a result of various nutrition interventions undertaken by government of Gujarat, the percentage of underweight children decreased from 73.04 per cent in March,...

-The Hindu ‘1.87 crore people were deprived of the benefits of ICDS' Gandhinagar: Though Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been waxing eloquent about the Gujarat model of development, the latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India as well as the State government's own admission speak of malnourished and underweight children in the State. According to the government's own figures, produced by Women and Child Development Minister Vasuben Trivedi in...

-Down to Earth   This defies logic. Despite rapid economic growth, India has often been placed below sub-Saharan African countries that have very high number of malnourished children. But the government has no data to clarify its position. In the first week of September, Parliament’s Committee on Estimates criticised the government, saying: “The committee is surprised to note that in the modern era of Information and Technology, there is no recent official...

-FAO 842 million people undernourished in 2011-13 - Developing countries make progress but more efforts needed to reach MDG target Rome - Some 842 million people, or roughly one in eight, suffered from chronic hunger in 2011-13, not getting enough food to lead active and healthy lives according to a report released by the UN food agencies. The number is down from 868 million reported for the 2010-12 period, according to the State...