The battle to provide food security took an interesting turn after the apex court vested itself with a supervisory role in the ongoing computerization of the public distribution system (PDS), currently behind schedule. Accordingly, it directed the topmost bureaucrat in the food ministry—food secretary Bhushan Chander Gupta—to not only monitor the PDS computerization, but also submit monthly updates to the Supreme Court. The court was hearing the long-standing public interest case on...

-The Hindu The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notice, returnable in four weeks, to the Odisha government seeking a report on the alleged destruction and burning of 30 houses of Dalits by some upper caste persons in Lathore village of Bolangir District on January 22. The Commission was acting on a complaint. It is alleged that after the incident, the affected Dalits families were kept in temporary camps. The complainant had...

Before filing papers, prospective candidates enter into a tacit deal with media, says EC   Even as it is tightening the noose around the media-candidates' nexus to thwart “paid news” instances through its district media committees and expenditure observers, the Election Commission has come to know about new strategies worked out by them to break the rules. “We have received reports that such ‘paid news' transactions had taken place in some instances in...

-PTI   The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today sought a report from the Odisha government on destruction and burning of houses of Dalits in Bolangir district. The NHRC asked the government to submit the report within four weeks on a complaint alleging that 30 houses of Dalits were destroyed and burnt by some persons belonging to upper castes in Lathore village on January 22. The complainant had requested a high level...

Seven Maoists, who surrendered to police in Chhattisgarh's Kanker, claimed their leaders forced them to undergo vasectomy to ensure the ultras' cause doesn't get lost in domestic compulsions.  Besides three senior commanders, East Bastar divisional committee member Sunil Kumar and his wife Jayanti, a senior member of the Maoist cultural wing, are among those who surrendered. All the four men claimed they had to undergo vasectomy.  Maoist veterans said vasectomy of members...