-The Hindu Hyderabad: When compared to non-vegetarians, vegetarians consume less amounts of salt and fat but on the whole, vegetarians were consuming a better mix of nutrients than non-vegetarians, a study conducted by the Delhi-based South Asia Network for Chronic Diseases (SANCD) concluded. Vegetarian foods are also less in Vitamin B12, Zinc and Iron but have high amounts of Vitamin C and Folic Acid, the study said. Presenting the findings at a...

-The United Nations The head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) wrapped up a two-day visit to India by lauding the Government for legislation that has made the right to food legally enforceable in a country that is home to about a quarter of the world's undernourished. The National Food security Act, which was signed into law in September, is designed to provide staple foods at highly subsidised prices for...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre may make it mandatory that 10% of 'corporate social responsibility' funds are spent on the welfare of elderly persons and effect a ten-fold hike in the old-age pension, in what is likely to be a new focus on senior citizens in view of their rapidly growing numbers and challenging living conditions. According to the 'national policy on older persons' to be unveiled soon, the...

-The Hindu The Gujarat snooping incident should be used as an opportunity to ask how the government has assumed the power to order such invasive, unchecked surveillance. On November 15, a pair of investigative portals released a set of audio transcripts depicting an extraordinarily invasive and scrupulous surveillance of a young woman by the Gujarat Police. Its implications, limited as they may appear to those who consider privacy a besmirched value, in...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The Naveen Patnaik government would soon invite applications from people wishing to be included as beneficiaries under the Food security Act to be implemented in the state from July 2014. Application forms will also be available online. A six-member committee headed by the development commissioner would be constituted to chalk out the modalities for identification of the beneficiaries. Under the provisions of the act, each beneficiary would be entitled...