-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a rare exception, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) to disclose the annual appraisal report of an ex-employee. The technical intelligence agency is exempt from RTI except in cases of human rights violation and corruption. The applicant, Odisha-based Subhendushree Routroy, had sought his annual performance appraisal reports for 2008, 2009 and 2010. He was sacked from NTRO and he...

-The Indian Express Lucknow: The free laptop distribution scheme of Samajwadi Party government has caught the eye of Microsoft, world's largest software company, which is going to conduct a detailed study on the most populist scheme in UP. Microsoft has engaged Mumbai-based Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) to conduct a study of the scheme and prepare literature on its planning, execution and response of beneficiaries. A team of IMRB will be visiting...

-IPS News ROME: The growing consensus, momentum and commitment to eradicate world hunger may seem overly ambitious in view of the slow progress in reducing the number of hungry people in the world in recent decades. After all, declining food prices in the second half of the 20th century, thanks to increasing production, were not enough to eliminate poverty and hunger in the world. In the 1960s and 1970s, many governments invested a...

-IPS News ROME: Thirty-eight countries were recognised for the first time on Sunday by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation for cutting in half the prevalence of people suffering from undernourishment, one of three targets under the first Millennium Development Goal. Of those countries, 18 also achieved the tougher World Food Summit Goal of halving the absolute numbers of hungry people: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Djibouti, Georgia, Ghana, Guyana, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Peru,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: With the UPA government serious about implementing the Food Security Bill, the Committee on Public Undertakings, headed by Congress's Jagdambika Pal, will take up for discussion on Monday a recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the assessment of food grain management across the country. The auditor's report paints a grim picture on the states' lack of capability to manage operational stock of...