-Tehelka.com The media went on a overdrive and misreported facts. Hundreds of children fell sick in the last two weeks in Haryana, Delhi and Maharashtra after consuming iron and folic acid supplements given to them under under state sponsored programmes to combat anemia. Though the authorities later clarified that mild side-effects like abdominal pain and nausea were expected - there are few takers for this explanation, especially in the backdrop of the...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Mid-Day Meal Scheme has been quietly feeding more than 10 crore children every day for more than 10 years. Unfortunately, this popular and relatively successful programme makes it to the headlines only when things go wrong - this time following the tragic death of 23 children in Bihar after eating at school. Recent economic research clearly documents the positive impact of the scheme on enrolment, attendance,...

-PTI Indian women cannot act as surrogate mothers for more than three births, including those of their own children, a draft bill to regulate the country's burgeoning wombs-for-rent industry has proposed. The Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) bill also proposes that surrogate mothers should have a mandatory two-year interval between deliveries, whether of surrogate babies or their own children. After the health ministry receives comments on the draft from other key ministries, the bill...

-The Pioneer A reality check for the ever- increasing inflation era exposes the farce of Government-sponsored Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS). When pulses are priced at Rs 90 per kg, inferior quality of rice or wheat at Rs 20 per kg, vegetables at Rs 40 a kg and edible oil over at Rs 100 per kg, providing a quality meal at Rs 3.34 to a child is impossible. According to several NGOs/SHGs...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Are you taking proper care of pregnant inmates and ensuring that the children born to women prisoners do not grow up in the shadow of criminals? the Supreme Court asked the states and ordered inspection of their prisons. A bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justices Ranjana Desai and Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday ordered, "We direct all the State Legal Services Authorities to inspect all...