The UPA-II has used the Budget to again play politics with hunger. But it has paid no heed to the ticking time bomb of growing social tensions as 58 million Indians living off agriculture slide deeper into poverty. The Economic Survey says more than half the population is dependent on a sector whose share in the economy is shrinking. The urban-rural income divide is therefore steadily widening, a tinder box that...
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‘Inequality has gone up, notwithstanding dip in poverty'-K Balchand
Montek Singh says he is willing to revise poverty estimates on the basis of expert opinion Though the incidence of poverty has come down over five years from 2004-05 to 2009-10, it is a startling fact that inequality has increased, with fewer people controlling income. Union Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia admitted on Tuesday that Income Distribution was not at the desired level and inequality increased in both rural and...
More »Food bill threat to fiscal discipline
-The Telegraph Annual expenses for the government’s food security programme have been estimated at Rs 112,205 crore, which will make it very difficult for the government to fulfill its commitments on checking fiscal deficit. Food and consumers affairs minister K.V. Thomas disclosed the massive bill on the programme today in the Rajya Sabha, though no mention of this was made in Friday’s budget. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had just said he would foot...
More »The Food’s Off The Table-Harsh Mander
It is disappointing that the government has not taken any steps to provide for the Food Security Bill, which is in Parliament, in this budget. A significant announcement on it was anticipated this year; that would have been the only way to see it roll out in 2012. Now, I think, the government must be bargaining for legal processes to take over, which we know will take some time, before...
More »Delhi grain bar spoils CM broth
-The Telegraph The Centre has turned down the Mamata Banerjee government’s request to allot additional foodgrain to keep the state’s pet project of supplying grains at a subsidised rate to about 20 lakh people running in 2012-13. Although these people are “needy”, according to the state government, they are not part of the BPL category (annual income of less than Rs 30,000). The Mamata government gives rice at a subsidised rate of...
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