Introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011, the UPA government’s Food Security Bill is finally going to be discussed in the current (Budget) Session of Parliament. The proposed legislation is now slated to see many additional Amendments from the government, following criticism from the States, NGOs and diverse stake-holders working on access to food and child health. Attempt here is to summarise in a Q & A format the...

-First Post The national secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), Kavita Krishnan, who was among the leading voices in the public protests that erupted following the gang-rape of 23-year-old student in Delhi has questioned the authority of the US Government in handing out international awards to women fighting against sexual violence. Krishnan’s reaction is in response to the US government’s announcement on March 4, naming the Delhi gang-rape victim...

-The Indian Express But for their status of being sitting MLAs, former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay could have been staring at the end of their political careers after being sentenced for 10 years in a corruption case. Instead, father and son remain legislators after they moved the Delhi High Court, thanks to the existing provisions of 1951’s Representation of the People (RP) Act. For a convicted...

-The Times of India The UPA government is likely to reintroduce the Land Acquisition Bill with a mammoth 157 Amendments in the budget session of Parliament. Out of the 26 'substantive' measure the government plans to push through includes a provision that in case of acquisition for urbanization purposes, 20% of the developed land would be reserved and offered to the original owners at a price equal to the cost of acquisition...

-The Business Standard FM allocates Rs 10,000 cr to implement the programme; this is apart from the usual food subsidy requirement of Rs 80,000 cr for the year The most ambitious social security programme of the government, the National Food Security Bill, got a leg-up in the 2013-14 Budget, with Finance Minister P Chidambaram allocating Rs 10,000 crore for implementing it. This allocation is over and above the usual food subsidy requirement of...