Over 1000 Below Poverty Line (BPL) card holders in Rajasthan, got free cell phones, instead of the free food grains. It seemed the UPA Government would rather let the food grains rot in open than distribute them for free to the poor. The Government felt it more important to distribute cell phones to the poor in Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology Sachin Pilot's constituency of Ajmer. People of Phagi...
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Free LPG connections for BPL families planned by Sujay Mehdudia
The Centre is all set to launch a scheme of granting domestic LPG connections free of cost to the below poverty line (BPL) families. The scheme, covering around 35 lakh families every year, is likely to be launched on October 2 (Gandhi Jayanti). The initiative was taken by Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada. Now, a consumer has to pay Rs. 1,250 as security deposit for getting an...
More »Not a grain of truth by Samar Halarnkar
Exaggeration. Exaggeration. Exaggeration. I was subjected to this tiresome litany from various angry officials and a couple of politicians after one of their colleagues — who will remained unnamed — leaked to me the perilous state of India’s granaries and the rotting foodgrain within. On July 26, I reported how 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and rice had rotted away, unfit even for animals; how 17.8 million tonnes, enough to feed...
More »“Make PDS universal in naxal-affected districts” by Gargi Parsai
Participating in the second meeting of the Chief Ministers' Working Group on Food and Public Distribution here, Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday asked the Centre to make the public distribution system (PDS) universal in the Left-Wing Extremism-affected districts, as well as, all Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste families living in tribal areas to do away with “errors of exclusion.” Mr. Singh is a member of the working group, set...
More »PM tells SC to lay off policy issues
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday virtually ticked off the Supreme Court, saying that it "should not get into policy formation". The trigger for this rebuke was the apex court's anger at grains rotting in FCI and government godowns, and its direction to agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to distribute grains for free to families living below the poverty line. Talking to a group of editors on Monday morning, Singh said...
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