A report by a parliamentary standing committee entrusted to examine the National Food Security Bill, 2011 has revived the debate on what measures India must take to end its abysmal track record of hunger and malnutrition, (See several links given below) despite successive years of high growth and record grain procurement. The draft legislation is likely to be debated in the upcoming session of Parliament, even as the recent Jaipur...

-The Hindu “Personnel guilty of sexual offences in conflict areas should be tried under ordinary criminal law” The Justice J.S. Verma Committee, set up to suggest amendments to laws relating to crimes against women, has recommended review of the continuance of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in the context of extending legal protection to women in conflict areas. “There is an imminent need to review the continuance of the AFSPA and...

-The Times of India Should maternity benefits and nutritional support to children under government schemes be restricted to only the first two children in order to "encourage stabilization of population"? Raising a storm among activists, the Parliamentary standing committee has recommended so while assessing the National Food Security Bill. The recommendation has been objected to by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights also. The other recommendations of the standing committee...

-NDTV A week after the Parliamentary panel submitted its recommendations on the Food Security Bill, the suggestions have come in for sharp criticism from the country's watchdog for child rights. The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) says the report has completely ignored the category of children, who are among the most vulnerable groups in the area of food security. Under the recommendations, children under the age of two...

-The Hindu Business Line A leap backward, says Right to Food Campaign Food rights activists, including National Advisory Council member, Aruna Roy, have called upon all Members of Parliament and political parties to reject the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s recommendations on the National Food Security Bill. Tearing into the Standing Committee’s report, submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker on January 17, the Right to Food Campaign (RFC), an umbrella of civil society organisations, said...