-The Hindu   Union Cabinet gives nod for Street Vendors Bill which will see certificates being issued to at least one crore hawkers across the country On Labour Day, the Union Cabinet announced a bonanza for street vendors - an end to ‘licence raj' - by giving its consent to the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2013. The Bill which is aimed at regulating street vending and shielding...

-The Hindustan Times It now seems increasingly unlikely that Parliament will consider the National Food Security Bill during this budget session. In a land which for centuries suffered devastating famines, where chronic hunger continues to stalk more than 200 million people, and which is home to every third malnourished child on the planet, this would be one more sad betrayal of the country's indigent millions, a reminder of how little they...

-The Hindustan Times People in rural India too are killing their unborn daughters, pulling down the child sex ratio across the country to its lowest since 1961 but the general sex ratio has moved up 10 points to 943 females for 1000 males. The sex ratio in the 0-6 age group brings out the recent changes in the attitude and outlook towards the girl child and indicates the future trend of sex...

-The Hindu Instead of opening a debate on the Gadgil panel's report on the Western Ghats, the government has chosen to sideline and replace it with another by an alternate group This is a challenging time in India's development history where a number of tenets of environmental governance are being questioned by the imperative of growth. Environmental governance in India is under assault, and is thus in need of both fresh thinking,...

-Live Mint Almost two decades after the Panchayati Raj Act was notified, a key aim of the legislation remains unfulfilled Papapatti/Madurai district: S. Muruganadam, 38, is the Dalit president of the Papapatti village panchayat in Madurai district and a post-graduate in political science. His term ends in 2016 and he has made up his mind not to run for re-election. "I think a panchayat president's post is an important post because only he...