-Live Mint Move may help the Congress renew its appeal to a traditional constituency; activists raise objections In yet another move that the ruling Congress Party hopes will help renew its appeal to a traditional constituency, the ministry of rural development has indicated it is likely to accept the recommendations of a panel that has suggested the universalization of pensions. The task force headed by Planning Commission member Mihir Shah was set up...
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Brides on sale, for cash and cattle -Amarjeet Singh
-The Times of India BHOPAL: Brides are being bought in Madhya Pradesh - sometimes in exchange for a buffalo and some cash. It might have sounded bizarre had there not been such a tragic tinge to it. In districts like Ashoknagar and Guna, where men far outnumber women probably due to female foeticide, desperate grooms are turning to human traffickers to find a wife. It's no problem if they don't have deep...
More »Voters lap up Re 1 idli from Jaya kitchen-GC Shekhar
-The Telegraph Chennai: If the way into voters’ hearts is through their stomachs, Jayalalithaa appears to have come up with the right recipe. A chain of low-cost canteens, opened recently in Chennai as a “brainchild” of the Tamil Nadu chief minister, has whetted appetites at a time of rising food prices. Idlis at Re 1 each, sambar-rice at Rs 5 and curd-rice at Rs 3 — the Chennai Municipal Corporation-run canteens that offer...
More »Shut away from all human rights
-The Hindustan Times West Bengal's Dum Dum Central Jail could put the notorious Abu Ghraib in a shade going by some of the disturbing incidents which have taken place there recently. A mere request for better food earned Bikram Mahato, undergoing trial for murder, a severe beating after which he was handcuffed and kept naked in a cell. And this is not an isolated incident in this jail. When Mahato had...
More »KV Thomas, Food Minister interviewed by Ragini Verma and Liz Mathew
-Live Mint In an interview, India’s food minister says the Bill is about making the Right to Food a legal entitlement Prospects for the National Food Security (NFS) Bill—United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s dream legislation—haven’t looked better. Food minister K.V. Thomas, in charge of fine-tuning the contours of the Bill, is confident of steering it through Parliament during the budget session. In an interview, Thomas said the Bill isn’t merely...
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