The National Advisory Council likely to approve on Wednesday the draft of the National Food Security Bill. The scheme will be rolled out in the 150 poorest districts first on the basis of a `notional universalisation.’ Rejecting the recommendation put forward by the EGoM, NAC, at its meeting held on July 1, settled for the distribution of 35 kg of grain, either wheat or rice, to every poor household, but...

India is incredible (after shining), with the fastest growth rate, an emerging demographic dividend and innovative brains for the globe. But the vast majority in rural India — employed in agriculture, small-scale and tiny industries, self-employed, and with no assets — does not find it so. This government, claiming inclusive growth for the grossly deprived and poor, has not taken actions to bring down prices of essential food items, unprecedented...

This National Advisory Council might not be as powerful as its namesake and as freewheeling in its mandate, but it will oversee the implementation of the Right to Education, the single most important intervention in the field of education since independence. HRD minister Kapil Sibal, who will be the ex-officio chairperson of this 14-member NAC, has cleared the names of eight members. They are Kiran Karnik, former president of NASSCOM;...

Wazirpur, the North Delhi village that recently witnessed three suspected honour killings, is only a stone’s throw away from a big, flashy glass-and-steel mall in the middle-class neighbourhood of Ashok Vihar. But, given the extreme brutality of the recent case, it may as well be a million miles away. Like most urban villages in the Capital, Wazirpur’s economy was at one point completely dependent on agriculture. In 1950, as the...

Inadequate socio-economic infrastructure is the major cause for the backwardness of Muslims in 90 districts, which has a concentration of the community, across the country, according to a survey conducted by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). In its interim report submitted to the Union Ministry for Minority Affairs, the ICSSR said lack of access to educational institutions, inadequate number of educational institutions, a low literacy rate among parents...