-Reuters Raipur/Patna: The deaths of at least 23 children who were poisoned after eating a free school meal has triggered an outcry over food safety just as the ruling Congress party is set to launch an ambitious plan to feed 800 million poor, with an eye on elections due within a year. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi‘s national subsidised food project includes free school meals and expands existing handouts to make it probably...
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New angle in Nitish Kumar-Narendra Modi fight: Academic brawl takes political hues-Ullekh NP
-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: What happens when academic rivalry spills over into the political arena? A riveting contest ensues, if the one being played out in the run-up to the general elections along with the Narendra Modi-Nitish Kumar showdown is any indication. While the Jagdish Bhagwati-Arvind Panagariya combo - both professors of economics at Columbia University - are packing a fair punch, Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen is ducking and dodging,...
More »Air pollution costing economy Rs 3.75L crore a year: World Bank -Dipak Kumar Dash
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Only outdoor air pollution in urban areas claims 1.09 lakh lives of adults, another 7,513 of children below 5 years annually, says a latest report of World Bank. The study released on Wednesday revealed that the annual cost of environmental degradation in India is about Rs 3.75 lakh crores, which is equivalent to 5.7% of country's GDP. The study commissioned by the Central government has brought...
More »The Food Security Debate in India -Jean Drèze
-The New York Times Blog The right to food is finally becoming a lively political issue in India. Aware of the forthcoming national elections in 2014, political parties are competing to demonstrate - or at least proclaim - their commitment to food security. In a country where endemic undernutrition has been accepted for too long as natural, this is a breakthrough of sorts. The rhetoric, however, is not always matched by understanding...
More »Five questions govt needs to answer on food security -Vivek Kaul
-First Post Sonia Gandhi wants the chief ministers of fourteen states in which the Congress party is in power to role out the food security scheme in letter and spirit, and in quick time. Some media reports suggest that the scheme will be rolled out on August 20, which also happens to be the birth anniversary of Sonia's late husband Rajiv Gandhi. While there seems to be a great hurry to launch...
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