An unprecedented economic growth during the last decade has also seen increasing malnutrition, hunger and starvation amongst certain sections of society. India ranks 66 in the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) World Hunger Index of 88 countries (Inter-national Food Policy Research Institute). More than 200 million people in this country are denied the right to food. One-third of all underweight children (57 million) in the world due to lack of...
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Where does the money spent by Maharashtra on NREGS go? by Mahesh Vijapurkar
Poor spending on NREGS by Maharashtra - only Rs351 crore out of Rs668 crore - can be seen in two ways. One, apathy towards the poor and carelessness, and two, less money spent means less money stolen. All employment schemes are seen as doles, work is faked, ghosts are paid and the bucks swallowed by the establishment - politicians to petty bureaucrats - with the poor guy in the boondocks...
More »Farm workers still get a raw deal by Jasvir Singh
The state has done precious little to improve the lot of agriculture workers. Agricultural wage workers (AWW) earn their livelihood by working for wages in the agriculture sector. In India, AWWs are the second largest group of all workers, after owner-cultivators or farmers. Of the workforce of 402 million, AWWs are at least 110 million. Wage work in the agriculture sector has always been considered a low-status occupation in India, as agriculture...
More »World Livestock Report Packs Many Surprises
We see malnutrition as a burden on our conscience, and on our exchequer. We also know it is a daunting task to get rid of child malnutrition. But do we know about the economic benefits on the other side? A new FAO report tells us that India can increase its national income by a massive US$ 28 billion by eliminating child malnutrition. Now that is serious economic gain so read...
More »PDS in peril by R Ramakumar
The promotion of the PDS as an Aadhaar application would fundamentally alter its form and character. NO scheme of the Indian government would be transformed more fundamentally by Aadhaar than the public distribution system (PDS). The nature of this transformation appears to be taking the form of a virtual dismantling of the PDS; even if a skeletal fair price shop (FPS, or ration shop) system continues to exist, it is likely...
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