The Supreme Court’s observations on the public distribution system (PDS) which call for exclusion of people living above poverty line (APL); fixing monthly ration on per head rather than per household basis; and using unique identification (UID) cards for targeting PDS supplies have implications that go beyond the PDS. The court has virtually set new parameters even for the proposed food security law since that is also likely to be...

Delhi MPs have failed to make optimum use of funds under MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme, clocking up a utilisation rate of just 86.93%, well below the national average of 90.32%. According to a report of the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, Delhi was placed among laggard states when it came to utilisation of funds till July this year. Since the MPLAD scheme was launched in 1993, total...

What do three members of the National Advisory Council, two members of the Planning Commission, Editors (including the editor and executive editor of this magazine), MPs from across the political spectrum, CII members and the NCPCR have in common? One single demand: no child under 14 should be engaged in child labour. Forty-five eminent members of society from very diverse backgrounds have thrown their considerable weight behind an ongoing campaign...

The 25 per cent quota in all schools envisaged by the RTE has created a big debate Do upper middle class people in a city believe that the quality of their child's education is compromised when they share classroom space with the children of construction labourers or domestic workers? This fundamental question is at the heart of the heated debate on a clause in the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act,...

Jharkhand today declared 12 districts drought-hit, acknowledging that poor rainfall had affected crop cultivation and setting in motion usual administrative measures to initiate relief measures on a war footing. At a meeting of the governor’s advisory council, the 12 districts were identified as Latehar, Ramgarh, Chatra, Seraikela-Kharsawan, Khunti, East Singhbhum, Jamtara, Palamau, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Ranchi and Jamtara. The Telegraph had reported yesterday that the governor’s council was likely to name the districts...