Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is often feted for development work. But it seems the progress has not reached the remote, rural areas of the state — certainly not the tribal district of Jhabua. At least 46 children have reportedly died of malnutrition and starvation in the district since last October. But the authorities refuse to even acknowledge the problem, let alone take any action. Most of the deaths have been...

Ranchi: It was a budget aimed at sweetening the bitter price rise pill. From cutting down VAT on diesel, sweets and ice- cream to making foodgrains available at Re 1 per kg for the poor, deputy chief minister Raghubar Das today presented an annual budget which focused on rural development, food security and social welfare. Chanting the “inclusive growth” mantra, Das, the BJP face in the Shibu Soren government, showed...

An empowered group of ministers (eGoM) has urged the government to delink the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA) from nutritional security and keep the issue price of wheat and rice flexible under the Act. But a top official of the agriculture ministry said some members of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government want NFSA to be an “umbrella legislation” addressing social security concerns. “The finance ministry is of the view that...

Much of the daylight robbery in the name of Commonwealth Games has been justified in the name of "National Prestige" and "World class aspirations. Whether all these surreptitious measures will eventually deliver the games is an open question? The Commonwealth is a 'friendly' association of those 72 colonies which were once part of the British Empire and rose to free nationhood - some through protracted struggle and others through negotiation. In...

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is supporting a new anti-child marriage movement in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, where nearly half of all girls become child brides and one-third become teenage mothers even though the legal marriage age is 18. “We need to have a zero-tolerance policy towards child marriage, so that every child, boy and girl, has the opportunity to live their childhood and gain an...