-The Telegraph New Delhi: A government panel that evaluated Muslims' post-Sachar socio-economic conditions has suggested an anti-discrimination law, targeted mainly at employers, to combat the growing disparity between the community and the rest of the country. The committee, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Amitabh Kundu, has failed to detect any "sea change on the ground" despite several welfare plans being launched for the community after Sachar's late-2006 report. Like Sachar, the Kundu...

-Business Standard The Government of India has requested all the States / UTs for testing of the meals from accredited labs. The Governments of NCT Delhi and Punjab have engaged accredited labs for testing of samples in their State. The States / UTs Government may involve Food Inspectors to collect the food samples for testing on quality parameters. The Mid Day Meal Guidelines envisage that teachers should not be assigned responsibilities that...

-DNA Aided schools flout norms, give glucose biscuits, poha, pav bhaji The mid day meal (MDM) scheme has been repeatedly hit by allegations of corruption and lack of hygiene. Now, dna tours the BMC schools or the aided ones in the city to find that not only is there blatant violation of norms, but also siphoning of good ration to replace them with sub-standard things is still rampant. The state government's resolution...

-The Economic Times For one who had worked so closely to frame the world's largest job guarantee programme, known as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, it's not easy to see it succumb to pressure. It's no wonder that economist-cum-activist Jean Dreze will raise his voice against this, along with eminent academics such as Pranab Bardhan and Maitreesh Ghatak. Dreze says corruption related to NREGA and leakages - its...

-The Indian Express While the new government has spoken about taking policy measures to address the needs of India's young population, nearly 10 crore of the elderly - citizens above 60 years of age - are generally neglected in policymaking. The latest Census data report that 15 per cent of the elderly live alone, mainly because of the nuclearisation of the family. As longevity is increasing and women tend to live...