An unprecedented economic growth during the last decade has also seen increasing malnutrition, hunger and starvation amongst certain sections of society. India ranks 66 in the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) World Hunger Index of 88 countries (Inter-national Food Policy Research Institute). More than 200 million people in this country are denied the right to food. One-third of all underweight children (57 million) in the world due to lack of...

Recent events in south Asia have led to an unexpected reversal in the narrative of microfinance, long presented as a development success. Despite charges of poor treatment of clients, exaggeration of the impact on the poorest as well as the risks of credit bubbles, the sector can play a non-negligible role in reaching financial services to low-income households. In regulating the sector, there is need for caution in setting interest...

Holding that procedural safeguards for protection of personal liberty must be strictly followed, the Supreme Court has quashed the preventive detention of four persons under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act. A Bench of Justices A.K. Ganguly and J.S. Khehar, quoting a catena of decisions, held that in preventive detention cases, representations from the detenus must be disposed of expeditiously and every day's delay must be...

-The Hindu   SIT says 2004 killing of Ishrat by Gujarat police was staged A Special Investigation Team appointed by the Gujarat High Court has concluded that the sensational Ishrat Jahan encounter of June 15, 2004 — in which the Ahmedabad police claimed they shot dead four Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists on a mission to assassinate Narendra Modi — was entirely staged and the teenaged girl from Maharashtra and the three men who died with...

All men and women above 30 to be screened for diabetes in 100 districts by March 2021 The Union health ministry has released the findings of the results of the first round of the nation-wide campaign for screening diabetes in rural areas. Pathanamthitta district of Kerala has the maximum number of diabetics—16 per cent people in the district suffer from the lifestyle disease. Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh has the least...