The draft Food Security Bill makes it compulsory for state governments to pay a food security allowance to targeted sections in case of failure to supply foodgrain through a sweeping welfare scheme targeted at nearly three-fourths of the population. The amount will be decided by the central government. The draft bill also presses for a radical overhaul of the food distribution system by giving incentives to independent agencies that procure...

-The Business Standard   The United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-Posco outfit active in the project site of the South Korean steel major in Orissa, has formed a core committee to hold discussion with the revenue divisional commissioner (RDC), Central range, on its long pending demands related to the project. The discussion is scheduled for tomorrow and is expected to revolve around UAC’s six prominent demands regarding higher compensation to the project...

Cash transfers are now suggested by many as a silver bullet for addressing the problems that plague India’s anti-poverty programmes. This article argues instead for evidence-based policy and informed public debate to clarify the place, prospects and problems of cash transfers in India. By drawing on key empirical findings from academic and grey literature across the world an attempt is made to draw attention to three aspects of cash transfers...

How the global garment industry is using regressive customs in Tamil Nadu, enabling it to exploit young women workers… Behind the smiling exterior of a fast-growing economy lie the tears and tragedies of women like these workers. Girls. Dowry. The two go together. No matter what you do to separate them, they somehow get conjoined, like twins that have remained connected in one body. We are told this is one of the...

-The Hindu   Medha Patkar ends fast on day 9 Medha Patkar, leader of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), ended her nine-day fast at Mumbai's Golibar colony on Saturday after the government handed her two resolutions incorporating the demands of the agitators. “It is a victory for the lakhs of people fighting for their right to live in the financial capital of India with dignity,” Ms. Patkar said. “The real fight...