The proposed Food Security Bill should adopt a three-pronged strategy that constitutes a Universal Public Distribution System for all, low-cost foodgrains to the needy, and convergence in the delivery of nutrition safety net programmes. In his latest budget speech, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced: “We are now ready with the draft Food Security Bill which will be placed in the public domain very soon.” Although no official draft has been...
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Tribal children rescued in Manipur by Iboyaima Laithangbam
The police at Sekmai in Manipur have rescued 10 tribal children, including three girls, from a child trafficker on Wednesday. They were being taken to Chennai as a part of a racket. The children, hailing from the interior villages of Churachandpur district, can speak only their dialects. They were being taken in an inter-State bus by a trafficker identified as James Khup (27) of New Lamka, Churachandpur. Following numerous instances of child...
More »Labour’s love lost by Harsh Mander
For the preparation of the Commonwealth Games 2010, around Rs 17,400 crore have been spent on Delhi by the government over the past three years. The over-used word deployed by public leaders and officials to describe the city, which they hope will emerge from these exertions, is ‘world-class’. But forgotten are the men and women whose toil will make this ‘world-class’ city possible. At its peak in 2008-09, an estimated...
More »A History Of Violation by Kalyani Menon-Sen
In the course of a speech at a public event on the eve of Women’s Day, Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan gave voice to his views on the victims of rape. “Due regard must be given to their personal autonomy since in some cases the victim may choose to marry the perpetrator or choose to give birth to a child conceived through forced intercourse,” he said in his address...
More »Where are the missing children? by Mahim Pratap Singh
The Sample Registration Survey (SRS)-2008 puts the Infant Mortality Rate in Madhya Pradesh at 70/1000 live births. The total number of births in the State for 2008-09 according to the State Department of Public Health and Family Welfare was 17,51,243. According to the IMR of 70/1000 live birth, the absolute figure for total infant deaths for 2008-09 would stand at 122,587. In his written reply to Congress MLA Mahendra Singh...
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