-Newsclick.in NSSO data shows that of the total land under tenancy in 2011-12, about 36% was taken on lease by top 30% landowners. The State in India, barring the Left-led governments, has never been committed to implementing redistributive land reforms and securing rights of tenants. After 1991, when India adopted the policies of liberalisation and globalisation, the government stopped paying even the lip service to the programme of land reforms as they...

-Livemint.com * The report said that over 80% of adolescents also suffer from ‘hidden hunger’, i.e. the deficiency of one or more micronutrients * The report, ‘Adolescents, Diets and Nutrition: Growing Well in a Changing World’, is based on the recently released CNNS Almost all adolescents in India take unhealthy or poor diets leading to one or the other form of malnutrition in them, revealed a UNCIEF report released on Thursday in association...

-The Hindu Business Line The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) is exploring introduction of breakfast in addition to midday meal in government/aided schools as part of a proposal under the New Education Policy. “We will keep the proposal before the committee members to include breakfast also under the midday meal programme,” said a source. Total funds to be allocated for introducing breakfast would be around ?3,000 crore. Currently, only lunch is...

-Orissapost.com Cuttack: In a bid to ensure transparency in paddy procurement, the state government is mulling introduction of iris recognition for farmers while selling the harvest at paddy procurement centres. According to sources, all paddy procurement centres (mandis) will be provided with iris scanners by the beginning of this kharif procurement season. “Farmers will be enrolled for the iris-scanning wherein the central server will store pictures of their unique iris. A farmer visiting...

-Livemint.com * Only about half of the states have made any effort to reduce vacancies in police, judiciary and prisons * The legal aid system mandates that 80% of the Indian population is eligible to avail free legal services, says the report NEW DELHI: The first comprehensive analysis of India’s manpower and capacity for justice delivery has painted a bleak picture of the ecosystem in terms of its various elements —police, prisons and...