-The Hindustan Times The original intention was laudable but the final product leaves quite a bit to be desired. To make matters worse, the timing of its launch is all wrong, making everyone suspicious about whether the UPA government is really serious about the issue of hunger and food entitlement or is only interested in the votes that a food security law could fetch in the coming general elections. The National Food...

-Down to Earth     Rural development minister shares concerns of activists at launch of Lancet series; stresses community role in fight against malnutrition India needs to be careful when it comes to agriculture-based nutrition as it opens the door for advocacy for transgenic food, said Jairam Ramesh, Union rural development minister, at the launch of the Lancet Series on Maternal and Child Nutrition. Ramesh was the chief guest at the programme on June...

-Frontline     Attempts by the Congress-led UPA government to adopt the ordinance route to pass the Food Security Bill fail as the opposition parties are more or less united in seeking a Bill that provides universal PDS coverage. THE National Food Security Bill (NFSB), 2013, touted as the biggest game changer for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the 2014 parliamentary elections, will go through yet another round of discussions...

-Down to Earth     Series of papers calls for engaging private sector in fighting malnutrition Lancet, the world's leading general medical journal, recently published four papers on nutrition. Its plan to release the papers formally in India on Friday has angered the country's public health experts. Lancet has called for engaging private sector in fighting malnutrition. UNICEF estimates say about 46 per cent of all children below three in India are too small...

-The Hindu There has to be a national mission to ensure that rural homes have access to clean cooking fuel and stoves instead of the killer chulhas that are claiming the lives of large numbers of women A large section of our country's population, nearly 75 per cent of rural and 22 per cent of urban households, still uses biomass for daily cooking. An estimated 80 per cent of the residential energy...