Bengal is staring at the possibility of losing self-sufficiency in rice unless the state manages to reverse a declining trend and step up production by as much as 12 per cent over the next four years. Lack of self-sufficiency in grain production need not necessarily be an alarming factor for a modern economy. But such a status is looming over Bengal in spite of factories not mushrooming on farmland — the...

Social protection has seen a sharp focus in the development policy agenda during the past decade. There is also a clear trend for making social protection, as well as food security, “rights-based”, rather than “discretionary”. Yet, no clear consensus has so far emerged concerning many basic design choices and implementation modalities. The Food Security Act 2011, which is now under the consideration of our parliament, is designed to achieve the...

-The Hindu The West Bengal Human Rights Commission has sought a report from the Superintendent of Police, Paschim Medinipur district, on allegations of torture of a young man who was handcuffed to his hospital bed after he allegedly attempted Suicide while in custody, officials of the Commission said on Monday. The youth is suspected to be involved in Maoist activities. “A report may be called from the SP Paschim Medinipur within four...

-The Hindustan Times Annoyed with the conduct of the four member advocates' committee, constituted by the Punjab and Haryana high court to interview 101 inmates of Rohtak shelter home abuse, for being at "logger heads" with each other, "lack of co-ordination" and "media interaction", the high court on Wednesday came down heavily on the committee. The vacation bench comprising justice LN Mittal and justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia said, "If this is the...

-The Hindustan Times Culture and tradition have always been cited as the bedrocks on which our superior family values are founded. But like so many elevating qualities that we feel we are endowed with, this too is largely a myth. A recent survey by Child Rights and You found that one-third of Delhi feels that children should work as hard as adults and that they should be paid less. The invisibility...