-TheWire.in In recent years, NGOs have become increasingly involved in supplying meals to schools as part of the government’s midday meal scheme, particularly in large urban areas. Akshaya Patra is the largest of these, currently working in 10 states, feeding 1.4 million children each day. Centralised kitchens are vast and impressive. Huge quantities of food are produced in a mechanised manner and in hygienic conditions. The shiny kitchens contrast starkly with...

-Frontline Odisha shows the way in the implementation of the ICDS scheme to ensure that children receive nutrition and care in their earliest years, but the Centre’s moves to slash budgetary allocations could wreak havoc on such programmes. At the Tasarda anganwadi centre in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, as the auxiliary nurse and midwife (ANM) pulled out the blood pressure (BP) instrument to check a pregnant woman, the children at the anganwadi began...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Taking note of the issues raised in HT’s Sick Hospitals investigation, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain on Friday promised to bring primary healthcare to the doorstep of every Delhiite with neighbourhood clinics, diagnostic labs and free ambulance services. “Currently, Delhi hospitals score two on (a scale of) 10,” admitted Jain. “Give me two years. They will at least score a six on 10. HT should do a follow-up...

THE controversy over Maggi instant noodles has once again highlighted the issues plaguing food safety in India. Not only does the issue raise critical questions about safe food production by multinational companies such as Nestle but it also foregrounds the institutional fault lines when it comes to ensuring food safety. Frontline spoke to Sunita Narain, who heads the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the organisation instrumental in initiating...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's apex pollution control agency is about to take on the role of "Big Brother" for industries, acquiring the capability for 24-hour surveillance of select factories through a network of sensors, communication channels and cameras. The Union environment and forests ministry has launched a nationwide pollution tracking system that will allow the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to continuously monitor the gas and liquid effluents discharged by select...