-Economic and Political Weekly A survey to identify who the poor are and how many are actually poor is necessary if programmes and benefits targeted at the needy are to reach them. The Socio Economic Caste Census, of which partial results have been published, was intended to do this. Yet, even a cursory look at the figures indicates that they call for a willing suspension of disbelief. N C Saxena (naresh.saxena@gmail.com) was...
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Social Safety nets require more public funding
The nation can be proud of running some of the world's largest programmes on social safety nets, says the latest report by World Bank. However, public spending on safety nets is still low in comparison to neighbouring countries Bangladesh and Pakistan. India tops the list of 136 countries for running the world's largest school feeding programme i.e. the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS), and also the biggest public works programme i.e....
More »Rural poor may get 90% more funds to build houses under new scheme -Saubhadra Chatterji
-Hindustan Times Poor people in rural India may get 90% more funds to build their houses with the government planning to revamp the rural housing scheme, Indira Awas Yojna (IAY). The scheme — likely to be redesigned as the national Grameen Awas Mission — currently offers beneficiaries Rs 70,000 to build a house and Rs 8,000 for a toilet. The Centre is planning to hike this allocation to up to Rs 1.48...
More »MNREGA hasn’t just generated jobs – it has created forests, ponds, wells and changed lives -Krushna Ranaware
-Scroll.in Thanks to the law, workers have built roads where there were none, replaced scrublands with forests, levelled lands and made them cultivable. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act envisages that the works undertaken under it will strengthen natural resource management and address causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation and soil erosion, thereby encouraging sustainable development. However, the fact that it is not simply a work creation programme but...
More »Chuck the BPL card -Mihir Shah
-The Indian Express SECC opens the door to step away from the poverty line as a criterion for government benefits. The Government of India has just released data from the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011. It is perhaps the most ambitious exercise of this kind ever conducted in human history. The SECC 2011 has three parts: census of rural India, conducted by the Union ministry of rural development (MoRD), census...
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