-Deccan Herald A study has found India to be the lowest on nutrition parameters, sharing the last rank with Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen. India performed lowest at the level of policy as well as implementation. Nutrition barometer, the study carried out by Save the Children, compared commitments and outcomes of 36 countries which together account for 90 per cent of the world’s stunted children. Components for the commitment included a snapshot...

-The Hindustan Times In the face of public outrage over a series of unpopular fiscal steps such as hike in diesel prices and cap on LPG, the government plans to come out with two feel-good initiatives — the food security bill and health cover for all. The UPA’s flagship National Food Security Bill would give 67% of the population (nearly 800 million people) a legal right to foodgrains at less than half the...

-Outlook National Advisory Council has asked the Women and Child Development Ministry to prepare a national policy aimed at curbing the sharp decline in the child sex ratio. Speaking to reporters here, Secretary WCD Prem Narain said the NAC has made several recommendations including the formulation of a 'national policy' on the child sex ratio. He said these recommendations will be deliberated upon in an Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee meeting on September 25. "The NAC...

-Outlook The Women and Child Ministry is planning to make changes in the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 to include electronic media and internet under its purview. At present the legislation only includes depiction of women in publications, WCD secretary Prem Narain told reporters at an interaction here. "We are also thinking of raising the penalties mentioned in the Act, to make them more contemporary," the WCD secretary said, adding that...

Direct cash transfers or food coupons should be used by the government to provide services to the poor, says Farzana Afridi, Assistant Professor, Economics and Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi. Afridi, who obtained her PhD in economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an MA in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, says that although the Mid Day Meal Programme is having a substantial effect, the...