Child malnutrition in Gulbarga and Bijapur districts is a blot on Karnataka's image. Ba Ba Basavanna Anganwadi Hogona Avarekaalu Tinnona Ah, Aaa, Ee, Eee, Bariyona Mane Kadege Hogona (Come, Come, Basavanna Let's go to the anganwadi Let us eat beans And write A, B, C, D, And head towards home.) As Savitri Nimbad sings this ditty, the more than 20 children seated in a circle around her repeat each line in shrill voices. Almost all of them are between three and...

Ahead of next year’s assembly elections, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government plans to revise a proposed food security law to bring it in line with a previous draft that is deemed more liberal, and expedite its execution. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who also heads the National Advisory Council (NAC) that drafted the initial National Food Security Bill, has suggested some crucial changes to the version that was made public...

-The Hindu   Social Welfare Minister A. Narayanaswamy on Friday asked Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) families across the State to get individual household toilets constructed under the Total Sanitation Campaign or the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. He said they would be denied the statutory benefits they were enjoying if they failed to comply with this direction. Awareness would be created among such families on the importance of...

The much-awaited National Food Security Bill will be introduced in the winter session of Parliament incorporating some major changes recommended by the National Advisory Council, chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution K.V. Thomas told The Hindu on Sunday that the council proposed coverage of the food security scheme from the present 45 per cent to an estimated 63 per cent...

-The Hindustan Times   The World Bank and International Monetary Fund just concluded their annual meetings in Washington. At an event on nutrition in South Asia, the evidence presented was clear and astonishing. On the one hand, South Asia has experienced robust economic growth averaging 6% a year over the past 20 years. On the other hand, the region continues to have unacceptably high rates of malnutrition with Bangladesh and India having...