-Civil Society News New Delhi: In 1974, Dr Samir Chaudhuri, a paediatrician working in Kolkata’s slums, founded Child in Need Institute (CINI) to tackle the many dimensions of child malnutrition. It struck him at the time that malnutrition wasn’t just a clinical problem but a complex phenomenon rooted in gender issues. Over the years, led by Dr Chaudhuri, CINI developed deep understanding of the social, economic and political underpinnings of malnutrition...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: After its plan to penalise journalists identified as purveyors of fake news was nixed by the PMO, the I&B ministry has now decided to set up a social media communication hub and deploy executives to monitor online content across each of India’s 716 districts. The Monitoring mechanism, once in place, will be able to read, contextualise and respond to content in most Indian and foreign languages...

-The Hindu Supreme Court verdict on the Act could increase the vulnerability of victims of atrocities, says ex-official GUNTUR (Andhra Pradesh): The Central government must bring an ordinance to remove the conditions imposed in the recent Supreme Court judgment in the implementation of the Prevention of Atrocities (SC, ST) Act, 1989 and remove all general observations made about it, said P.S. Krishnan, former Union Secretary, Ministry of Welfare, and member, National Monitoring...

-The Hindu Social audits ensure a citizen-centric mode of accountability The breakdown of institutions has underlined the fact that democracy — and especially public funds — need eternal public vigilance. But in India, the elites close ranks to neutralise voices of dissent and alarm, thus preventing public vigilance. Democratic governance needs the citizen to be legally empowered to ask questions, file complaints, and be a part of the corrective process. Social audits, as...

-The Hindu Business Line India has withdrawn curbs on US chicken imports, but phytosanitary concerns remain In keeping with its hardline stance on trade matters, the US continues to press for damages against India on poultry import curbs, despite India having relaxed them in recent months. Citing avian influenza concerns, India had for years virtually banned poultry imports from the US, prompting the latter to move the WTO. In 2015, the WTO...