-PTI KOLKATA: Around 700 shanties were gutted in a fire in Santoshpur-Maheshtala area on the outskirts of the city today, leaving more than a thousand people homeless. Police said no injuries or casualties were reported but four persons were caught by locals from the spot and handed over to police for allegedly indulging in arson.   Seven fire engines went to the spot but could do little as the vehicles couldn't cross the railway...

-The Hindu 144 families desperately seek temporary shelter Bangalore: Dozens of slum-dwellers from Laggere, who were recently displaced from their homes as part of a slum rejuvenation project, staged a protest outside the office of the Karnataka Slum Development Board here on Thursday demanding immediate relief. Over a fortnight ago, bulldozers hired by the board razed 144 huts in the Lakshmidevi slum in Laggere, displacing at least 500 people. The demolition drive was...

-Economic and Political Weekly The proposed legislation on the National Food Security Act has been steadily watered down since it was fi rst mooted in 2009. The Parliamentary Standing Committee that examined the 2011 Bill has disappointingly continued with "targeting". If the government passes the bill incorporating the committee's suggestions, a historic opportunity to combat hunger and malnutrition would be lost. Ankita Aggarwal (aggarwal.ankita87@gmail.com) is a Research Scholar at the Centre for...

-The Business Standard Indian plantations bloom in Ethiopia at the cost of the livelihoods and homes of the tribals If there is “blood diamond”, there is also such a thing as “blood maize”, “blood soya” and “blood pulses”. These come all the way from plantations in Ethiopia and other countries with repressive regimes. India, which claims to shun blood diamonds coming from African mines that use slave labour, is enthusiastically backing exploitation of...

-The Hindu With every passing controversy, we’re learning to redefine our rights, says Baradwaj Rangan This is the story of two YouTube videos. The first one came up bare hours before I sat down to write this, and it featured an actor, a producer, a director announcing to a media gathering that he was now homeless in every sense. His new production, the one that had sucked up his life’s savings, still...