-Governance Now Questions current growth vision when 40 percent children are malnourished Batting for universal coverage of food entitlement, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen called for strengthening the draft food security bill, particularly the provisions relating to children’s entitlement. He said the supreme court orders on mid-day meals and integrated child development services (ICDS) had made important contribution to the health and nutrition of children. The bill, he felt, should not dilute these...

-The Indian Express Addressing an auditorium brimming with at least 2,000 people at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Nobel laureate and economist Amartya Sen, at a panel discussion on 'Hunger and Nutrition', laid out his vision for why food security should get top priority in the country. Outside the hallowed halls of IIT Delhi, the UPA's National Food Security Bill is being debated publicly in states and the Standing Committee...

-The Economic Times Food inflation in India, as measured by food articles price index, has averaged 11.3% for the period FY 2008-09 to December 2012, with a maximum of 15.6% in 2010-11 and minimum of 7.3% in 2011-12. In December 2012, wheat prices stood 23% higher than in December 2011, and rice prices 17% higher in the same period. Although this spurt in wheat and rice prices in the face of...

-The Times of India TOGI (RAJSAMAND): For once the crowd no longer mobs the district collector; not even in a surging camp of redressal seekers. Instead a nearby counter is mobbed. Up for grabs is a pink slip - the guarantee for an official hearing to all complaints. By the end of the day, grievances ranging from faulty electricity connections, non payment of wages, old age pension, a simple request for work...

-The Hindu While there is reason to be proud of the progress in the production of wheat, rice, cereals and millets, the use of farmland for non-farm purposes is a cause for concern The year 2013 marks the 70th anniversary of the Bengal Famine which resulted in the death of an estimated 1.5 to 3 million children, women and men during 1942-43. A constellation of factors led to this mega-tragedy, such as...