Centre delinks access to welfare schemes from poverty line NUMBER of people who can benefit from government’s welfare programmes is going to swell. Currently, the Central government caps the entitlements under most welfare programmes to those below the poverty line, which is as low as Rs 12/day/person for rural areas and Rs 18/day/person for urban areas. State governments have been opposing this mechanism. In future, the ongoing socio-economic and caste census...
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GM crops have not lived up to their promises, say NGOs by John Vidal
Genetic engineering has failed to increase the yield of any food crop but has vastly increased the use of chemicals and the growth of “superweeds,” according to a report by 20 Indian, southeast Asian, African and Latin American food and conservation groups representing millions of people. The so-called miracle crops, which were first sold in the U.S. about 20 years ago and which are now grown in 29 countries on about...
More »Getting it right on Kudankulam
-The Hindu New Delhi's handling of the protests at Kudankulam marks some improvement over the ham-handed way in which popular concerns over the Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra were dealt with. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has shown the way with her deft handling of the protests by the local population, shifting from appeals to support the project to articulating the concerns of the people of the project area and...
More »Should MNREGA labour be used for farming?
-The Business Standard Yes, it will help combat the acute shortage of farm labour, but it goes against the Act’s core principles. Devinder Sharma Food and agricultural policy analyst The crisis in agriculture has worsened and it is directly proportionate to the spread of MNREGA Isn’t it strange? The Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), which was primarily designed as a radical and novel response to combat rural poverty, is actually hitting the very...
More »Thomas briefs Sonia on food security Bill by Gargi Parsai
Union Minister of State for Food K.V. Thomas on Saturday met Congress president and National Advisory Council (NAC) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and apprised her of the progress made in the proposed National Food Security Bill. This was the first meeting Mr. Thomas had with Ms. Gandhi since her return after a surgery abroad. “The Minister briefed her about the progress made in the proposed Bill, which has been posted on the Ministry's...
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