-PTI NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday asked the states ruled by the party to implement in 'letter and spirit' the food security scheme which it sees as a 'game changer' in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. She held deliberations with Congress chief ministers on how to implement the food scheme seeking to provide cheap foodgrains to 82 crore people, for which an ordinance was promulgated last week. Party sources said...

-The Indian Express Trendsetters & tweakers Act one Chhattisgarh already has a food security law in place. It became last December the first state to pass a food security bill, which covers several sections not under existing schemes. The Act makes food entitlement a right and depriving anyone of that an offence. If PDS grains, for instance, are being diverted, the officials involved will face penal provisions. The Act also seeks to empower women...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre is mulling setting up five universities with 50% seats reserved for religious minorities, a "Muslim outreach" by Congress ahead of the 2014 elections. The universities will come up in the hubs of Muslim and Christian population in five states. "These universities will have 50% reservation for minorities with socio-economic backwardness as key determinant. Minorities are not just religious groups but also social groups as...

-The Indian Express Bangalore: When affidavits were filed by the contestants for the 2008 assembly polls declaring their wealth, it was a close race between the two dominant money-spinning sectors in Karnataka - real estate and iron ore mining. Affidavits filed by 5,376 candidates in the fray for the May 5 assembly polls show that the real estate sector that flourishes in and around Bangalore and, to a lesser extent, around cities...

-Deccan Herald With just a little more than a year left before the nation goes to polls, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government has proposed to raise the allocation for rural development to Rs 80194 crore in 2013-14, although an amount of about Rs 21371 crore is estimated to be left unspent from the fund earmarked for the sector this year. The Ministry of Rural Development is likely to leave unutilized...