-The Hindu   A concern about the Food Security Bill is that legal entitlement has been weakened to mean a passive right to receive whatever the state gives The hallmark of the National Food Security Bill 2011 is that if implemented it will translate into India's first ever right to food legislation, guaranteeing food as a justiciable, legal entitlement to its people. However, in its current form, the Bill fails to evolve a...

-The Hindu The economic vulnerabilities that confront households in the current sluggish recovery from the global meltdown are aggravating the fight against child labour, says the International Labour Organisation. Its latest report emphasises the need for universal coverage of at least a minimum level of social security to help some 215 million working children. Half that number is trapped in the worst forms of child labour - work akin to...

-The Times of India There was some grumbling when Indian taxpayers were told in 2004 that they would have to begin paying an education cess of 2%. But the move also inspired a lot of positivity, because of a widely-shared belief that upgrading education is the most effective thing our government can do to lift Indians into affluence. Although it took the Parliament another half decade to enact the Right to...

-The United Nations The implementation of social protection measures can play a key role in rescuing minors from occupational bondage, a new report by the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) has found. According to the World Report on Child Labour, varying types of social protection measures such as cash transfer schemes, social health protection and providing income security in old age, can help reduce the number of children around the world...

-Frontline PESA, which is seen as an enabling law for tribal self-governance, is violated brazenly by both the Union government and State governments in the name of development. SINCE October 2012, the Ministry of Rural Development of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has apparently been engaged in an exercise to evolve a "National Land Reforms Policy". Over these months, the Ministry wrote to various State governments, highlighting the importance of...