-The Hindu Building on the work by RTI activists, India needs to set up a mechanism that can make for accountability on the sources and utilisation of party funds Throughout the world, political parties collect funds to build and sustain the organisation, to train party cadres and fight elections. Recognising that they are the main link to the citizens (as voters) and, by implication, the mainstay of democracy, many countries, including India,...

-The Times of India The tragic incident in Bihar has raised questions about the midday meal (MDM) scheme, an otherwise popular and successful programme. Laggard states should use this as an opportunity to catch up with others and protect the scheme against emerging dangers. For those unfamiliar with it, the MDM scheme is a huge programme that today feeds more than 11 crore children every day. It is also a very popular...

-Outlook Social indices topper Kerala just can't stop the baby deaths in its malnutrition-hit tribal Attapady belt Under the thick canopy of a peepal tree, beside the road that winds to Pallur Ooru in Attapady in the Western Ghats, is a small tribal burial ground. There are no tombstones to mark the graves and on closer look one sees tiny mounds where the mud has been disturbed. In a quiet corner,...

-Feministsindia.com Sharmila Rege, an extremely popular teacher and warm fellow traveler in the women's studies movement, will always be with us through her writings on caste, gender and feminism and compassion she has shown for activists and researchers I was shocked and saddened to learn about the untimely death of Sharmila Rege, on 13 July, 2013, due to cancer of colon, at the young age of 48. Prof. Sharmila Rege was an...

-The Telegraph Agartala: Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar has criticised the Centre for promulgating the food security ordinance by evading parliamentary scrutiny and termed it a "nutrition destruction ordinance". Asserting that the provisions in the ordinance would only accentuate the rural-urban divide and destroy whatever food security people of this country now have, Sarkar said, "We had received a copy of the ordinance and conveyed our opinion to the Centre, demanding intensive...