The fourteenth Public Accounts Committee (2014-15) report, submitted to the 16th Lok Sabha in April this year, has found that despite various interim orders issued by the Supreme Court from time to time (based on a writ petition that was filed by People’s Union for Civil Liberties in April, 2001), the Government of India has failed to universalize the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. This means India has to...

-The Indian Express In Madhya Pradesh’s Hoshangabad district, reeling under malnourishment, govt shuts eggs out of anganwadis while locals see hope in poultry farming Maryarpura (Hoshangabad): Gagan Lachhu is so emaciated that he can hardly walk on his own. In a few months he will turn two but his weight is an alarming six kilograms. “Once, we nearly forced his mother to admit him at the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre in Itarsi...

-The Indian Express Bhopal: Activists say introduction of eggs in meals was one way of ensuring children get protein-rich food, especially in the tribal areas where malnutrition remains a concern. A strict vegetarian, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has shot down a proposal to include either egg curry or boiled eggs in anganwadi meals on a pilot basis in the tribal areas of Alirajpur, Mandla and Hoshangabad districts. Activists say...

-The Hindu The Modi government is determined to dismantle the two-pronged welfare paradigm. It is now an established fact that one area where the Narendra Modi administration has acted with a sense of purpose, urgency and resolve is in slashing social expenditure. Be it education, health, agriculture, livelihood security, food security, panchayati raj institutions, drinking water or the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes sub-plan, central government funds earmarked for social protection have been cut. The...

-The Indian Express Modi government has damaged the rights-based legislative framework without spelling out what will replace it. No  one in the last two decades has come to power with greater euphoria than the Narendra Modi sarkar. It has taken less than a year for that euphoria to recede and change to disappointment. There are sufficient reasons for this change. The celebrations of the first year in office of  this government are in sharp...