-The Times of India Groundwater, a precious natural resource, is for all practical purposes a private property in India. Anyone can bore and extract water from the land he owns with few rules to restrict over-exploitation. But all this could soon change. Plans are afoot to alter laws and regulations to make groundwater a common property resource to ensure better regulation by government as a public trustee with the involvement of communities...

-Oxfam India Oxfam India launches food justice bulletin along with the Institute of development Studies (IDS), calls for assessing government's commitment to hunger Despite enormous growth in economic and political power, 46 per cent of Indian children are malnourished, and 1 in 3 of the world’s hungry live in India. Yet India stands on the threshold of potentially the largest step toward food justice the world has ever seen, as the National...

-Deccan Herald India’s proposed National Food Security Bill can become a benchmark for many countries to follow, said UK-based Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and Oxfam India at a conference in Delhi on Tuesday. The Bill was introduced in Parliament in December 2011 and was referred to a standing committee. Legal entitlement It aims to provide legal entitlement of subsidised foodgrains to the poor, and is likely to cover nearly 70 per cent...

-The Hindu Veteran socialist Mrinal Gore, known for her dauntless activism on the issues of price rise, water Rights and women’s empowerment, passed away following cardiac arrest at Vasai, Thane district on Tuesday. She was 84. “For the past 10 days she was at my house,” said daughter Anjali Vartak. “She had suffered a bronchitis attack and was on ventilator. She was feeling weak. She had fever too. Today [on Tuesday] she was...

-IANS Food minister KV Thomas on Wednesday said the Union government was committed to ensuring food security of the people, particularly the vulnerable sections. He said the proposed food security bill aimed to give legal Rights to cheaper foodgrains to 63.5% of the population. Around 180 million households -- 65 million below poverty line (BPL) and 115 million above poverty line (APL) category families -- get subsidised rations under the Public Distribution System through...