The Union government is inclined to examine specific requirements of States individually while implementing the proposed legislation on food security. When it was brought to his attention that crores of people in the State would be left out of the Public Distribution System as the ceiling for coverage of urban population stipulated in the draft National Food Security Bill was 50 per cent and the provisional figures of Census 2011 pointed...

-The Hindu   New Delhi's handling of the protests at Kudankulam marks some improvement over the ham-handed way in which popular concerns over the Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra were dealt with. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has shown the way with her deft handling of the protests by the local population, shifting from appeals to support the project to articulating the concerns of the people of the project area and...

Lags behind Bangladesh and Pakistan in assessment and updating data While the Centre is projecting a concern for the poor and the hungry through its proposed national Food Security Bill, it has not even updated data on under-nutrition and hunger in the last six years. This has prevented international bodies such as the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) from assessing the improvement, or lack of it, in India in terms of...

With tribals accounting for about 14 per cent of the total population in the state, the Congress party is organising a one-day conclave at Kevadia Colony in the tribal-dominated Narmada district on October 15 to discuss the issues of interest to them. Aimed at wooing the tribal heartland for 2012 assembly elections, the party has decided to focus mainly on the issue of allotment of forest land. The issue of forest...

-The Hindu   ‘Experts will address safety concerns' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday promised to set up an expert group to address the “legitimate concerns” of those protesting the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, but he has also clearly indicated that the project would go forward. Dr. Singh, who met a multi-party delegation from Tamil Nadu as well as activists and citizen representatives, assured them that “the government will not compromise on safety in...