-Governance Now Professor Sanjay Kumar, co-director of Lokniti, a research programme of the New Delhi-based think-tank Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and one of our leading ‘election watchers', maintains that we must not read too much in the higher voting numbers and credits the election commission for preparing more accurate voter rolls. Excerpts from an interview with Trithesh Nandan: * What do you make of the phenomenon of higher turnouts? Everybody...

-Live Mint By giving in to pressure from the US and EU, India has landed itself and the developing world in a bad trade deal The stenographic cacophony in the Indian media had a singular triumphalist message from the NINth World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meet in Bali: India had secured a major victory by safeguarding its food security programme and stood its ground against the US and the European Union...

-The Business Standard Oil minister says Parikh report sound but government has to take realities into account; to proceed with Direct Benefits Transfer in 291 districts from January despite SC order Union petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily said there'd be no raising of the present cap on the number of subsidised cooking gas (LPG) cylinders a household was entitled to in a year. In the wake of severe electoral reverses for the ruling...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: An Indian government laboratory released a formulation of salt fortified with iodine and iron for mass consumption, calling it a tool to combat anaemia and iodine deficiency, without adequate and rigorous evidence to show that it increases blood haemoglobin levels, scientists have said. The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, has shared the formulation and production technology for its double fortified salt (DFS) with seven salt-producing companies, some...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Tamil Nadu state government has started 283 subsidised restaurants - amma unavagams - in NINe urban centres. This initiative has been a hit with a wide spectrum of urban consumers. However, the majority of the patrons seem to be the working urban poor. These initiatives have been accused of being "populist" but this model of providing affordable cooked food in urban areas promises to not only...