-Kafila.org This fact-finding exercise was coordinated by the CENTRE FOR POLICY ANALYSIS. Team members were the human rights activist and former civil servant Harsh Mander; former Director-General of the Border Security Force, E N Rammohan; Professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy of Jawaharlal Nehru University; National Integration Council member John Dayal; senior journalist Sukumar Muralidharan and CPA Director and senior editor Seema Mustafa. Introduction and Overview The first impression of the Muzaffarnagar countryside, now green...

-The Hindu     The draft policy on the use of forest land is at odds with sound conservation principles and fails to plug holes in current guidelines that work to the advantage of project promoters The Supreme Court in July 2011 while delivering the Lafarge Judgment laid down guidelines on forest clearance procedures. These were to operate till a new regulatory mechanism was put in place. Two years after the judgment, the Ministry...

-PTI Expressing surprise on the absence of latest official data on malnutrition, a Parliamentary panel has asked the government to come up with a time-bound action plan to reduce under-nutrition and ensure real time flow of information for proper monitoring. "We are surprised to note that in this modern era of information technology, there is no recent official data on malnutrition. What is available is seven years old and outdated...National Family Health...

-Outlook The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre and nine naxal-affected states on a PIL seeking direction to governments to formulate a central policy for handling the menace. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivan sought response from the Centre, states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Utter Pradesh governments. The court passed the order on a plea filed by ex-MLA of...

-The Hindu Kozhikode (Kerala): The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has intervened in the problem of malnutrition deaths plaguing the tribal belts of Attappady in Palakkad district in the State. A letter written by T.K.A. Nair, Adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has urged Kerala Chief Secretary E.K. Bharat Bhushan to take preventive measures to find an amicable solution to the grave problem. (As many as 54 children have reportedly died owing to...