-Economic and Political Weekly The proposed legislation on the National Food Security Act has been steadily watered down since it was fi rst mooted in 2009. The Parliamentary Standing Committee that examined the 2011 Bill has disappointingly continued with "targeting". If the government passes the bill incorporating the committee's suggestions, a historic opportunity to combat hunger and malnutrition would be lost. Ankita Aggarwal (aggarwal.ankita87@gmail.com) is a Research Scholar at the Centre for...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Veerappan's aides till Wednesday. The apex court said though the petition filed by an advocate on behalf of the convicts is not maintainable, the case of 4 condemned prisoners were similar to the case of other death row convicts pending consideration of the Supreme Court. SC's decision came after the defence advocate informed the court that he has now got...

-Deccan Herald As primitive tribes continue to be in a state of acute poverty, ‘schedule area’ status for settlements of evicted tribals from Nagarahole National Park will favour their development. The status will also solve the problem of representation of tribals in political institutions, which will help them benefit from the welfare programmes aimed at them, said Muzaffar Assadi, Chairman of the High Court-appointed Committee on Tribal Issues of Rajiv Gandhi...

-PTI Humanitarian concepts are not alien to the country, says the jurist “Our worst enemies couldn’t have done it better.” This was how jurist Fali S Nariman reacted to the execution of Afzal Guru without his family being properly informed. “These things have to be thought out from a humanitarian aspect. You may certainly hang somebody because the President has refused his Mercy plea. At the same time, humanitarian concepts are not alien...

-Counter Currents The Aadhaar scheme of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is to provide India's billion-plus people with a unique identification number. Enrolling into the scheme was and still is not mandatory, though it was mentioned that it would be difficult for people to access public services in the absence of enrolment. The scheme requires individuals to provide their photograph, fingerprints and iris scan together with documentary personal information,...