Political and Social Issues

Chemical Industries Association (CIA) has urged the Tamil Nadu Government to declare titanium dioxide project as thrust area for growth as the State had highly favourable conditions for the project.
- a single project can change the face of south Tamil Nadu as industrial hub of great significance.
- not much land was required for the project
Titanium dioxide is an important chemical with excellent demand potential and is now facing huge shortage in India.
- Tamil Nadu is advantageously placed in setting up large titanium dioxide project, in view of the abundant availability of the raw material namely limonite in the State.

Pointing out that nearly one out of seven Americans face food insecurity, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said here on Thursday that by recognising the right to food as a basic human right, India is leading the way for the rest of the world.
Citing the work of fellow Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, he said hunger is not caused by an absolute shortage of grain, but by the lack of income of those in poverty to get access to it.
While India debates whether there should be basic economic rights, like the right to food, such debates are still not part of the discourse in America.
The assessment of the success or failure of programmes should not only depend on their impact on GDP or income, but on broader measures of well-being, he added.

Search engine Google India on Thursday submitted before the Delhi High Court that it could not filter objectionable content posted on websites as it was not a website.
The search engine further submitted that it had no liability or system to filter objectionable content. The primary liability to filter it was of the websites where such material was posted.
The company also expressed its inability to filter objectionable content as it was posted in hundreds of languages from all over the world.
On its status, the company said it was only a subsidiary of Google Incorporated and therefore could not be prosecuted.
On December 23, the trial court summoned representatives of 21 networking sites, taking cognisance of a private criminal complaint.
The complaint has been filed under Sections 292 (sale of obscene books etc), 293 (sale of obscene objects to young person etc) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to provide health insurance cover is likely to be extended to more people among the vulnerable sections.
The scheme has already been extended to MGNREGS beneficiaries, street vendors, domestic workers, beedi workers and those working at building and construction sites.
The scheme has been extended to a few segments of unorganised workers. In future, it is likely to be expanded to other segments of such workers
The scheme has got wide appreciation from the International Labour Organisation and the World Bank. It was launched on October 1, 2007 as the health insurance scheme for families living below the poverty line and came into operation in April 2008. Beneficiaries are entitled to a smart card-based, cashless health insurance cover of Rs. 30,000 per family per annum on a family floater basis.
The Centre contributes 75 per cent of the annual premium, while the States' share is 25 per cent. For the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre's share is 90 per cent.