-The Times of India RANCHI: Right to food campaign, conglomerate of NGOs working for implementation of Food Security Act (FSA), had demanded the state government to restart 'dal-bhaat' scheme under which special outlets were opened by the state government to provide 'dal-bhaat' at cheap rate. The campaign activists convened their state-level meeting here on Sunday to discuss various aspects of the FSA and draw a comprehensive plan to intensify their stir,...

-PTI Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Sunday appealed to people to focus on building centralised kitchens to feed children instead of constructing temples. "If we can provide quality food to children under the mid-day meal scheme, we can drastically reduce the dropout ratio. I believe that it's better to build kitchens to feed children than building temples," Ms. Patel said, inaugurating a fully-automated kitchen, built by an NGO, The Akshaya...

-The Times of India BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh government sat on summons by a New York court for seven months, allowing it to deliver a deathblow to Bhopal gas victims, months before the 30th anniversary of the tragedy. The US court, on Thursday, ruled that Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) cannot be sued for contamination from toxic waste in its abandoned chemical plant in Bhopal. The legal suit was pending with the federal district...

-The Indian Express Because the GM question demands evidence-based policymaking, not corporate shills or NGO prejudices. Two RSS-affiliated groups, the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, seem to have successfully petitioned the environment minister to hold off field trials of genetically modified crops. Only a week ago, the statutory body for these decisions, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), had allowed farm trials of rice, mustard, cotton, chickpea and...

-The Times of India JALPAIGURI/ALIPURDUAR: The picturesque tea estates of North Bengal hide a gruesome truth - malnutrition deaths. Nearly 100 people have reportedly died in five closed tea gardens since January, with 10 deaths reported this month. It's a chilling reminder of the starvation deaths in Amlasole, West Midnapore, 10 years ago following which Supreme Court had ordered an inquiry. But just like the Left Front government then, the Mamata Banerjee...