The planned National Food Security Act represents a unique opportunity to achieve gains with respect to the public distribution system. However, the current draft is a non-starter. When I first visited Surguja district in Chhattisgarh nearly 10 years ago, it was one of those areas where the Public Distribution System (PDS) was virtually non-functional. I felt constrained to write, at that time, that “the whole system looks like it has been...

Jat Mahasabha wants marriageable age of girls and boys to be lowered to 15 and 17 respectively so that couples don't elope and marry against the wishes of their families. According to Om Prakash Mann, Haryana president of All India Jat Mahasabha, the demand will be discussed at a sarv khap panchayat on July 17 at Meham Chaubisi Chabutara in Rohtak. The demand was raised at a meeting of khap...

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL seeking an amendment in the Hindu marriage Act to ban marriages within the same gotra (sub caste). The apex court asked the petitioner to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court for the same. Demanding amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act to prevent weddings within the same 'gotra' (sub caste), a delegation of Khap panchayats had met Haryana CM Bhupinder...

This is a story of a bunch of gritty women in a small Andhra village who used their traditional resources and knowledge to fight poverty and create a source of livelihoods for others. A group of 34 women, most of them illiterate, at village Pyalayaram, which falls in Deccan region of Zaheerabad mandal in the state of Andhra Pradesh.decided to set up a community grain bank with a little help...

Police are deployed in Bajehda village here after a khap panchayat allegedly ordered to kill a couple, who want to marry in the same cast against the local practices. The couple, said to be Rekha and Sudhir, have fled the village following the community panchayat's diktat. However, no complaint was lodged with police about their disappearance. SSP Raghubir Lal said security would be given to the lovers if they seek protection from...