-The Hindustan Times It now seems increasingly unlikely that Parliament will consider the National Food Security Bill during this budget session. In a land which for centuries suffered devastating famines, where chronic hunger continues to stalk more than 200 million people, and which is home to every third malnourished child on the planet, this would be one more sad betrayal of the country's indigent millions, a reminder of how little they...

-The Hindu     The mistaken notion that the 53 per cent of India's population ‘dependent on agriculture' are all ‘farmers' leads many to dismiss the massive farmers' suicides as trivial There are nearly 15 million farmers (‘Main' cultivators) fewer than there were in 1991. Over 7.7 million less since 2001, as the latest Census data show. On average, that's about 2,035 farmers losing ‘Main Cultivator' status every single day for the last 20...

-Live Mint Lack of decentralization means municipalities lack power, resources to meet rising aspirations of ‘middle' India Othakadai, Madurai (Tamil Nadu)/Hubli (Karnataka): S. Paramasivam , president of the Othakadai panchayat, has big plans for his area. "Rainwater harvesting, removal of encroachments on roads, waste recycling, covered drainage, bigger primary health care centres and community parks," lists the 58-year-old, who has spent 30 years in the stainless steel business that dominates industry...

-PTI PANAJI: Sitting on the Mandovi river bank here, where he has set up his maiden Goa show of the 107-year-old Touring Talkies, Vijay Kulkarni has mixed feelings. He is excited about the fact that this is the first time time that the Touring Talkies has traveled outside Maharashtra. "But this may be the last time too," says 65-year-old Kulkarni, the owner of Sri Ram Touring Talkies and Vijay Touring Talkies. According to him,...

-PTI NEW DELHI: The government on Friday said 228 farmers committed suicide in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra because of agrarian distress during the April-January period of 2012-13 fiscal. "The number of farmers in the six identified suicide prone districts of Vidarbha region who committed suicide due to agrarian distress is 228 during the last 10 months till January 31, 2013," Minister of State for Agriculture Tariq Anwar said in a written reply...