-The Hindu Per capita entitlements under the food security bill will not cover beneficiaries as comprehensively as household entitlements The government hopes to secure in this session of Parliament, approval for the National Food Security Bill (NFSB) so that it can replace the food security ordinance. The NFSB, on which the ordinance is based, guarantees supplementary nutrition services through anganwadis for all children under six, midday meals for schoolchildren, and, very importantly, maternity...

-Down to Earth Centre wants to treat anaemia with iron tablets. Can pills substitute nutritious food? Eleven-year-old Indumati Katla, who lives in Wazirpur, Delhi, went to school on July 17. There, her class teacher asked her to gulp down a maroon tablet. Two hours later, she was in hospital recuperating from severe nausea, giddiness and fatigue. She was among the 200 government school students in Delhi who fell ill that day after...

-The Economic Times The state-run Rubber Board is turning to the rural employment guarantee programme to increase India's natural rubber output from the present 9 million tonne a year. With rising global demand for rubber, the board is keen to extend the area under cultivation. It has identified 400,000 hectare in the North East, 100,000 hectare in Odisha and 50,000 hectare each in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as areas with potential...

-Tehelka.com The media went on a overdrive and misreported facts. Hundreds of children fell sick in the last two weeks in Haryana, Delhi and Maharashtra after consuming iron and folic acid supplements given to them under under state sponsored programmes to combat anemia. Though the authorities later clarified that mild side-effects like abdominal pain and nausea were expected - there are few takers for this explanation, especially in the backdrop of the...

-The Hindu Bijapur (Karnataka): Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H.K. Patil has said that the State government was contemplating a policy to ensure the construction of bathrooms along with toilets in rural areas. Addressing presspersons here on Sunday, he said that to enhance the living standards of rural people, it was essential to provide these basic facilities. Claiming that bathrooms, like toilets, were also equally important for the development of the rural...