Days before the draft Lokpal bill is expected to be put before the Union Cabinet for its consideration, the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) headed by Aruna Roy has begun lobbying for its version of the anti-corruption legislation. Roy and her colleagues met with law minister and government representative on the joint drafting panel Salman Khursheed on Tuesday and are likely to meet HRD minister Kapil Sibal...

The Supreme Court criticises the Chhattisgarh and Central governments and orders the disbanding of Salwa Judum. THE case Nandini Sundar vs State of Chhattisgarh arose out of a writ petition (civil) filed in 2007 in the Supreme Court by Nandini Sundar, a Professor of sociology at the Delhi School of Economics; Ramachandra Guha, a historian; and E.A.S. Sarma, former Secretary to Government of India and former Commissioner, Tribal Welfare, Government...

The proposed Food Security Act has the potential to stoke global food prices and significantly increase the country's food subsidy bill, officials and experts say. The government plans to introduce a legislation which aims to ensure food security for 75% of the rural households and 50% of the urban areas and includes both below poverty line and above poverty line families. Experts say that in case there is a drought in future...

Less than a week after India announced a record harvest, Hindustan Times has learnt that the nation’s main grain-buying agency is running out of money for its massive nationwide purchase operation. Over the last month, the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) has twice stopped payments to state governments, various grain-purchasing agencies and rice millers who buy wheat and rice, the main food crops, from millions of farmers, a senior...

The government ignores the NAC, puts out a diluted draft bill on food security As many as 46 per cent of the malnourished children of the world—of whom at least 75,000 die every month—are in India. Another alarming official statistic—36 per cent of Indians live on less than Rs 20 a day. One would think figures like this would act as a reality check for a government that proudly chants...