-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government may be a little hesitant in pushing for genetically modified (GM) crops due to pressure from RSS-linked groups, but it is exploring all possible 'safe' options to ensure food and nutritional security keeping in mind the demands of a growing population. The issues, including use of biotechnology and other scientific interventions for increasing farm productivity, will be discussed threadbare during a national conference on...

-TheWire.in India’s midday meal scheme (MDMS) reaches more than 11 crore children across 12 lakh government schools around the country. Based on a Supreme Court order in 2001, states introduced a cooked meal in schools – replacing the earlier system of monthly “dry rations”. Despite many achievements, the scheme tends to make headlines for the wrong reasons. A recent audit report by the CAG found a number of implementation gaps, including...

-Hindustan Times Birhor Tola (Ranchi): A 45-year-old tribal villager, Paklu Birhor, and his companions forage a forest in the Jonha valley, barely 40km from the Jharkhand capital, every day at the crack of dawn for wild edible roots and herbs. On a lucky day, they return home with game — rabbit, monkey, boar or birds. They count themselves fortunate if they stumble upon the carcass of a wild or domestic animal. These...

-Frontline The NCRB data used to justify the new law bringing down the age of responsibility for criminal action are open to interpretation. Often the same data can be interpreted in different ways to arrive at contrary conclusions. Portions of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data have been quoted ad nauseam by the government and the media alike to justify the changes made in the juvenile justice law. Experts from the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Nearly 18 million villagers registered under the rural job scheme face the prospect of toiling without wages as funds have dried up amid a drought-triggered surge in demand for work. Twelve states have run up "negative balances", meaning workers' payments are due, while the rest have exhausted 95 per cent of the funds released to them so far, according to the rural development ministry, which runs the Mahatma...