-EPW   The draft Food Bill is in a mess; a simple solution is available to make it an effective legislation.   The union cabinet’s inability to clear the National Food Security Bill (NFSB) on 13 December is both a concern and an opportunity. It is a concern because every passing day is a chance lost to bring hunger to an end. It is an opportunity because the Bill is in dire need...

-Express News Service In a major step towards fulfilling the ruling Congress’s poll promise, the Union Cabinet today cleared the National Food Security Bill that seeks to provide legal entitlement of foodgrain to 75 per cent of the rural population and up to 50 per cent of the urban population. The Bill seeks to divide the eligible households into two broad categories — priority and general — wherein the “priority” group will...

The scheme seeks to add a superstructure of digital empowerment without laying an adequate foundation Until recently, S. Dhibeka, 16, who had never used a computer until she chose the computer science stream last year at the aging, leafy Kakkalur Government Higher Secondary School near Chennai, could practise programming for only an hour or two a week, often sharing a desktop computer with one or more of her classmates. But since September,...

Indian courts have consistently upheld and championed the fundamental right to free speech and expression enshrined in the Constitution. This includes the right to put forward different and contrary views, right or wrong. A recent instance saw the Supreme Court of India striking down Uttar Pradesh's ban on the film Aarakshan. This article by A.P. Shah, retired Chief Justice of the Madras and Delhi High Courts, sets out key issues...

-The Hindu None of the reasons given by the Tamil Nadu government for imposing a ban on the film Dam 999 holds water. The right to freedom of speech and expression, as enshrined in the Constitution and upheld time and again by the Supreme Court of India, is too dear to be sacrificed at the altar of political contingency. Everything the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, Debendranath Sarangi, stated about the film...