Behind Delhi's radical makeover for the Commonwealth Games are 150,000 migrants labourers toiling hard to meet the October deadline. TOI-Crest gives this silent workforce a name and a face. Thirty-five-year old Vijay is from Sagar village in Madhya Pradesh. His thekedar, who makes regular trips to the villages to round up skilled and unskilled labourers, had told him he'd be working on the beautification of Delhi University roads under the...

Dissatisfied with the recommendation of the National Advisory Council (NAC) for “phased, time-bound universalisation of foodgrains entitlements” across the country, the Right to Food Campaign has announced its decision to mobilise people for a “comprehensive” Food Security Act. “A nationwide call will be given towards this at the national convention being held in Rourkela, Orissa, from August 6,” the Campaign, a conglomeration of activists and civil society groups, said in a...

Right to Food Movement, a network of NGOs favouring a food security law, said the NAC should address issues of abundance of food and efficiency of a public distribution system before finalising the draft on food security Bill. Citing Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) norms that prescribe 14 kg of cereals, 1.5 kg of pulses and 800 grams of cooking oil for a moderately active adult per month, RFM said...

AS CONCERN for the ecosystem runs high all across the world, a small, mountainous state in India’s northeast — Sikkim, has taken a step ahead and declared to go completely organic by the year 2015. What this means is the total phasing out of chemical inputs from agriculture. Sikkim has long been an ecologically conscious state with initiatives such as a comprehensive ban on plastic, bio-medical and chemical waste in...

Following a hike in the prices of petrol, diesel, gas, milk prices have also gone up. Between January 2007 and March 2010 the price of milk rose seven times in Delhi. The story is similar elsewhere in the nation too. In the last one year, prices increased from Rs 17 to Rs 22 a litre. In some cities, like Mumbai, the rise has been steeper. Earlier, it was pulses that were burning...