–PTI Chaibasa (Jharkhand): Maoists are taking away foodgrains meant for mid-day meals in schools and the public distribution system, and even controlling projects under MGNREGS in Naxal-affected areas of West Singhbhum district, a senior police officer said on Saturday. This was revealed during interrogation of an arrested hard-core Maoist, identified as Cherwa, said Superintendent of Police Pankaj Kamboj. Cherwa is an influential man in the area and a member of the management committee...

-The Telegraph Chennai: If the way into voters’ hearts is through their stomachs, Jayalalithaa appears to have come up with the right recipe. A chain of low-cost canteens, opened recently in Chennai as a “brainchild” of the Tamil Nadu chief minister, has whetted appetites at a time of rising food prices. Idlis at Re 1 each, sambar-rice at Rs 5 and curd-rice at Rs 3 — the Chennai Municipal Corporation-run canteens that offer...

-Tehelka The National Food Security Act is probably going to undergo many changes before it is presented in Parliament. But everyone seems to agree that it’s time has come Towards the end of January, a few days after Republic Day and a little over a week after the Congress’s conclave in Jaipur, large half-page advertisements appeared in major newspapers: “Celebrating the 63rd year anniversary of our Republic by putting food on everybody’s...

-Economic and Political Weekly The proposed legislation on the National Food Security Act has been steadily watered down since it was fi rst mooted in 2009. The Parliamentary Standing Committee that examined the 2011 Bill has disappointingly continued with "targeting". If the government passes the bill incorporating the committee's suggestions, a historic opportunity to combat hunger and malnutrition would be lost. Ankita Aggarwal (aggarwal.ankita87@gmail.com) is a Research Scholar at the Centre for...

-The Hindu The United Nations has been drawing attention in recent years to the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, which have been adding to morbidity and premature deaths in most countries. In a declaration issued at a high-level meeting in 2011, the U.N. argued that low and middle income countries should actively pursue public health policies that will reduce the incidence of NCDs arising from diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and a...