As it is drafted, the Bill actually deprives people, and the State governments, of existing rights on multiple counts. The Food Security Bill finalised by a Group of Ministers should not be accepted by Parliament in its present form. The overriding negative features of the proposed legislation far outweigh its positive initiatives. The framework itself is questionable since the Central government usurps all powers to decide the numbers, criteria and schemes...

-MSN   The Rural Development Ministry has turned down a request from the Agriculture ministry to suspend MGNREGA projects during peak farming seasons because of labour shortage. Agriculture Secretary P K Basu had written to the Rural Development Ministry to this effect recently. He had sought Amendment in the job guarantee scheme so that agriculture is not effected particularly during sowing and harvesting period, sources in the Rural Development Ministry said. The letter had...

The Supreme Court on Thursday, refusing to stay at this stage the Madras High Court judgment striking down as unconstitutional an Amendment to the Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act, extended the time limit for distribution of textbooks till August 2. The High Court by its July 18 judgment had directed the State to forthwith distribute the textbooks printed under the Uniform System of School Education to enable teachers...

What are these books about? They were prepared as part of a common syllabus system by the previous government. Under the Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act, 2010, “Samacheer Kalvi” was an effort towards a uniform syllabus for the four streams of school education in the state: State Board, Matriculation Schools, Oriental Schools and Anglo-Indian Schools, which follow separate syllabi, textbooks and examination patterns, and are under different boards. How...

The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Madras High Court judgment striking down ultra vires the Amendment to the Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act to defer implementation of the ‘Samacheer system'. The special leave petition directed against the High Court judgment dated July 18 is likely to the mentioned for early hearing on Thursday. On behalf of students and parents, caveats had also...