-The Indian Express As the Parliament session begins, it would be interesting to see how the food Bill debate pans out and what the stands parties take say about them. Both the main ideological opponents of the ruling Congress - the BJP and Left - have sounded a discordant note. However, their objections are more perfunctory in nature than anything else. The Left, which had so vehemently pushed the job scheme MNREGS as...

-The Hindu New Delhi: It was to meet the commuting needs of the differently-abled, like Nitin (name changed) who is a wheel-chair user and resides in Vikaspuri in West Delhi, that low floor buses in Delhi were specially designed by a team of IIT-Delhi, Tata Motors and NGO Samarthyam. But with their drivers and conductors often not bothering to stop for the disabled and those in need of assistance, the entire...

-The Hindu Per capita entitlements under the food security bill will not cover beneficiaries as comprehensively as household entitlements The government hopes to secure in this session of Parliament, approval for the National Food Security Bill (NFSB) so that it can replace the food security ordinance. The NFSB, on which the ordinance is based, guarantees supplementary nutrition services through anganwadis for all children under six, midday meals for schoolchildren, and, very importantly, maternity...

-Tehelka.com The Sen-Bhagwati ‘debate' on economic policy is focussing on the wrong issues Several things are quite remarkable about the recent debate between Professor Amartya Sen and Professor Jagdish Bhagwati. The first surprise is that such a debate could become a major news item at all, making headlines and filling screen time on news channels, when it is about economic strategies that are normally discussed only in relatively small academic and policy...

-The Economic Times The state-run Rubber Board is turning to the rural employment guarantee programme to increase India's natural rubber output from the present 9 million tonne a year. With rising global demand for rubber, the board is keen to extend the area under cultivation. It has identified 400,000 hectare in the North East, 100,000 hectare in Odisha and 50,000 hectare each in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as areas with potential...