-The Hindustan Times After the political parties, now the Department of Atomic Energy has asked the government to keep it out of the Right to Information Act, saying the transparency law is in conflict with its international commitments which require "strict confidentiality." However, the DAE's demand for immediate exemption from the RTI Act through an official notification is unlikely to be accepted with the law ministry raising a red flag, citing the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has disapproved of the process the Planning Commission and the Centre follow to identify below poverty line (BPL) people, adding to the recent controversy over a 15 per cent reduction in poverty. The standing committee on finance, headed by the BJP's Yashwant Sinha, has outlined flaws in the methodology followed by the Planning Commission and the government to identify the poor. The measure is key...

-PTI HYDERABAD: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday said it would seek amendments to the Food Security Bill to bring 90 per cent of the population under its ambit. "We want food security to be extended to 90 per cent of the country's population and the price of each commodity supplied under the act should not (cost) more than Rs 2 a kg," CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury said...

-The New York Times Blog The right to food is finally becoming a lively political issue in India. Aware of the forthcoming national elections in 2014, political parties are competing to demonstrate - or at least proclaim - their commitment to food security. In a country where endemic undernutrition has been accepted for too long as natural, this is a breakthrough of sorts. The rhetoric, however, is not always matched by understanding...

-The Hindu The hostility to the UPA's food security Bill from both its allies and the Opposition stems not from substantial objections to the draft law itself but from other political grouses The decision to bring an ordinance to provide food security to 67 per cent of the country's population was received with much hostility by the Opposition parties last week. The latter seemed surprised that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) could...