-The Times of India CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has decided to ban the production, stocking, distribution and sale of tobacco products such as gutka and pan masala in the state. The decision came in the backdrop of the Supreme Court's remarks in a case recently, seeking to know the action taken by state governments in curbing the use of tobacco and its products. The order will be passed in a...

-Press Information Bureau   In order to make the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) more focused and targeted at the poorest of the poor, Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) was launched in December, 2000 in all States/UTs for one crore families to be identified from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. Coverage under this scheme has been expanded thrice since then i.e. during 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 covering additional 50 lakh households each...

-The Indian Express The Congress's bill could end up sponsoring the NDA's campaigns A good thing about the logjam in Parliament, it has to be said, is that it has prevented the ill-advised food security bill from being passed. It would, though, be naive on our part to presume the BJP stalled Parliament - the Congress's blatant abuse of the CBI process was a big reason for this - only because it...

-The Times of India To the Government of India, Members of the Judiciary, and All Citizens, One of the most disastrous consequences of the strife in the tribal areas of central India is that thousands of adivasi men and women remain imprisoned as under-trials, often many years after being arrested, accused of 'Naxalite/ Maoist' offences. The facts speak for themselves. In Chhattisgarh, over two thousand adivasis are currently in jail, charged with 'Naxalite/Maoist'...

-The Hindu The Centre on Friday revised its foodgrains production estimate upwards by 5.22 million tonnes for 2012-13 over earlier expectation on account of higher output of rice, wheat and coarse cereals. The total foodgrains output is now estimated at 255.36 million tonnes with wheat production pegged at 93.62 million tonnes and rice at 104.22 million tonnes. "We have every reason to be fairly satisfied," Union Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna told The Hindu...