National Food Security Act can help bring down malnutrition and maternal mortality rates in the country, Biraj Patnaik, principal adviser to the Supreme Court commissioners on right to food, said Wednesday. 'Anaemia during pregnancy is one of the main reasons for maternal death, because that may cause haemorrhage. Food supplement which can tackle iron deficiency is the way to face this challenge,' Patnaik said. According to Patnaik, the body mass index (BMI)...

More hands join to support the cause of `Kisan Swaraj' and `safe food for all, sans Bt'. Adding momentum to this cause, the Kisan Swaraj Yatra reached Bangalore on Sunday. At a public meeting in the Institute of Agricultural technologists (IAT), Kodihalli Chandrasekhar, president, Karnataka Rajya Raithara Sangha (KRRS) assured that over 5,000 farmers from the state will join the yatra when it ends at Raj Ghat, in New Delhi, on...

Along with the proposed food security legislation and the communal violence Bill that have been its focus until now, the reconstituted National Advisory Council (NAC) is beginning to focus again on the government’s marquee rural job guarantee scheme as well. The ministry of rural development has been told to make a presentation on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to a working group of the NAC on Friday,...

KEY TRENDS   • Section 105 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which provides for excluding 13 Central legislation, including Land Acquisition (Mines) Act 1885, Atomic Energy Act, 1962, Railway Act 1989, National Highways Act 1956 and Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978, from its purview, has been amended for payment of compensation with rigours $ • The amendments have now...

The debate in the Congress and the UPA government over land acquisition acquired a new edge with party president Sonia Gandhi favouring a balanced approach in securing land for industrial purposes without losing large fertile tracts. "New industries and infrastructure cannot be built without acquiring land. This is obvious and there is no argument about it. "But land acquisition must be done in a manner that it does not result...