-The Deccan Herald   Eight-year-old Divya says she wants to study but her school does not provide basic facilities such as books, clean water, food and furniTure.  “There are insects crawling on our food and the water smells like dead rat. Most of the desks in our school are broken. How can we study in a school which is not clean?” asked Divya, studying in Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Shakarpur, east Delhi. Divya added...

India is likely to see record foodgrain production in the current year on good rains, the second advance estimate of the agriculTure ministry showed on Friday. Output of total foodgrains comprising rice, wheat, coarse cereals and pulses was seen at 250.42 million tonnes (mt) in the July-June crop year of 2011-12, up 2.3% from the year-ago 244.78 mt, the data showed. This is significant as the optimistic projection comes just ahead of...

The battle to provide food security took an interesting Turn after the apex court vested itself with a supervisory role in the ongoing computerization of the public distribution system (PDS), currently behind schedule. Accordingly, it directed the topmost bureaucrat in the food ministry—food secretary Bhushan Chander Gupta—to not only monitor the PDS computerization, but also submit monthly updates to the Supreme Court. The court was hearing the long-standing public interest case on...

Questioning the extent to which the Army can claim blanket immunity under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), the Supreme Court today said rape and murder committed by its personnel should be considered a “normal crime”, and that there is “no question of sanction” from the government before prosecution of offenders in such cases. Under AFSPA, prior approval is required before prosecution or any other legal action can be initiated...

The PM, Raja, TRAI, telecom firms... the apex court lets no one off the hook The Supreme Court’s stinging judgement against the government in the 2G spectrum scam case is an extremely significant attempt by the country’s highest court to curb the corrupt nexus between business and politics and will further damage the UPA’s already battered credibility. The court’s decision will not merely have far-reaching consequences on India’s political economy,...