-The Hindustan Times It now seems increasingly unlikely that Parliament will consider the National Food Security Bill during this budget session. In a land which for centuries suffered devastating famines, where chronic hunger continues to stalk more than 200 million people, and which is home to every third malnourished child on the planet, this would be one more sad betrayal of the country's indigent millions, a reminder of how little they...

-Rediff.com   Born in Mumbai's infamous red-light district, Shweta Katti has won a scholarship to the Bard College, New York. This is her story. Shweta Katti is warming up to the media attention she's been receiving lately. She has had a long day but has agreed to meet me at a coffee shop for what must have been the nth interview she's giving in the last 48 hours. It is close to 10 in...

-The Telegraph Jamshedpur: A school is a primary lesson in going away from fear and towards power, feel the CRPF. Last year, the paramilitary force reopened a government-run primary school at Thalkobad at Saranda's Manoharpur block in West Singhbhum. Maoists had partially bombed the school in 2004, causing it to become one of the many Maoist-styled cradles in the area that drilled anti-democratic ideologies and taught practical lessons on bombs, guns and...

-Live Mint The experience of Kerala and Tripura shows how panchayati raj can help in the empowerment of women Chulubari (Tripura)/Kanjikuzhy (Kerala): Her relatives warned Hena Das, a resident of Chulubari in Tripura, against taking up political office because it wasn't "meant for women". Das disregarded the warnings. Two years on, she has no regrets. She also has no male colleagues; her fellow representatives on the board of an 12-member panchayat are all...

-The Hindu   Books will soon be procured for all the children, says district coordinator of SSA Tiruvallur: Asish Mehra sits in the front row of his class, flipping through his notebook. There is hardly any space between the Oriya letters, as if he is desperately trying to save paper. It is his only notebook, and it turns out Asish is indeed trying to make the paper last. He is one of the many...