Government has redefined what constitutes poverty A nationwide survey that will simultaneously map the economic, caste and religious backgrounds of the entire population was approved by the Union Cabinet on Thursday. The survey marks two firsts: firstly, in a break with past practice, the Below Poverty Line (BPL) Census has been widened to include urban areas; earlier, it was Restricted to rural India. Secondly, the caste headcount, which will be conducted simultaneously...
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Targeted PDS is a failure: Plan Panel member
-The Economic Times A day after the Work Bank marked out deficiencies in the country's public distribution system (PDS) for foodgrain, a senior government official has said that Restricting public distribution to below poverty line (BPL) households has been a failure in India. "The mess in the public distribution system has been created by the notion that it is only meant for the poor. All problems of the current system are...
More »IT Act if enforced will leave internet use in India no freer than in China by R Krishna
The Centre for Internet & Societies (CIS), a Bangalore-based NGO, recently filed an RTI query with the Department of Information Technology (DIT), asking for a list of websites blocked by the Indian government under the IT Act. The department handed them a list of 11 websites. It was just one department’s list, but this was the first time such a list was being made public. “The information given was not...
More »Google External Lawyer on India’s Net Rules by Amol Sharma
Bangalore-based lawyer Sajan Poovayya is an outside counsel to Google Inc. and other Internet companies who have been sued in India for content on their Web sites that users or authorities deem objectionable. Having been through many such cases, he’s in a good position to assess how a new set of controversial Indian Internet regulations affect the landscape. His verdict: the rules are sloppy, vague, perhaps unconstitutional, and wind up exposing...
More »Mamata to return 400 acres to Singur farmers, says Tatas can Restart
-PTI In her first major policy decision, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday announced that her government would return 400 acres from the abandoned Tata Motors plant at Singur to farmers who unwillingly parted with their land. "The first decision taken in the cabinet is return of 400 acres from the abandoned Tata Motors plant in Singur. If the Tatas are willing, they can set up the factory on...
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