Cutting across party lines, several members of Parliament backed a universal public distribution system to ensure food security for all citizens “as a right” and vowed to oppose the ‘targeted' food security bill in Parliament. Among the participants at a Jan Manch organised by the Right to Food Campaign were G. Vivekananda, K. Keshava Rao and Mani Shankar Aiyer (Congress), Prakash Javadekar (BJP), Brinda Karat and P. Rajeev (CPI-M), D. Raja...

-The Times of India If you have a kutcha house or have a tarpaulin to cover youself, the socio-caste survey will not consider you homeless. If a farmer has a hand-pump provided by the government or a kisan patra to take loans against that, the same BPL scheme could now disqualify him from a BPL card.  If a widow has a 16 year-old son, she may end up losing the BPL status...

Even as a controversy is raging over the government decision to allow FDI in retail, activity is seen on the food security front, with several parties proposing to join a “Jan Manch” (public discussion) about the proposed National Food Security Bill organised here on Tuesday. “Almost all political parties have confirmed their participation” in the event being organised by the Right to Food Campaign, human rights activist Kavita Srivastava told a...

This is a saga of how the Hindu outfit saw the promise in Anna and pursued him for its gains. How often do we meet strangers on a flight and realise that it could possibly be the beginning of a lasting friendship? This is how yoga teacher Ramdev and super cop Kiran Bedi met in mid 2010 when both of them were on the same flight and Ramdev spotted her. Although fate...

Bhukan Singh is a small, shy figure, with a nervous smile - he does not look like a hero. But standing in a field near his home, he recalls the day last March when his fight for transparency and justice in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand nearly resulted in his death. "In today's India speaking the truth is not easy," Mr Singh, 44, says wistfully, remembering how, on that March day...