Planning Commission’s affidavit to the Supreme Court states that adjusting for inflation, the poverty line for an urban person is Rs 32.5 per day per person and for a rural person it is Rs 29.3 per day per person. This has raised an outcry in media and the urban middle class, who consider them outrageously low. Based on these poverty lines, Planning Commission estimates that there are 40.74 crore persons...
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Struggling to enter the BPL club by Jean Drèze
The Planning Commission's poverty straightjacket is but one of a series of obstacles faced by “aspirants” to the BPL status. Nothing illustrates the absurdity of current food policies more poignantly than the plight of Dablu Singh's family in Latehar district, Jharkhand. About two years ago Dablu, a young Adivasi who survived mainly from casual labour, fell from a roof at work and broke his back. He is paralysed for life and...
More »53.1% Rajasthan women anaemic: Study
-The Times of India A comprehensive and multi-sectoral mechanism for control of anemia, a highly prevalent disease among adolescents and women in rural Rajasthan, has been recommended for the state. The recommendation has ben made in a study report released by Vijay Shankar Vyas, an economist and deputy chairman of Rajasthan State Planning Board. The report titled 'Strengthening Adolescent Anemia Control Programme (AACP) in Bikaner and in Jaipur, is prepared by...
More »Mining sector needs large-scale reform
-The Economic Times India's new mining Bill has provisions which seek, rightly, to shovel money from mining companies to rural people affected by mining, but the devil could lie in the detail. The proposal has three defects. One, it seeks differential treatment for coal and other minerals - coal miners would share 26% of their profits, while miners of other minerals would give additional royalty payments. Pray, why? Two, it exempts...
More »Record of MNREGA implementation is very patchy: Jairam Ramesh
-India Today Terming the implementation of UPA's flagship programme MNREGA as "patchy", Rural Development MinisterJairam Rameshon Monday expressed concern at leakage of funds meant for the scheme but hoped that the proposed 'NREGA 2.0' will deal with the problems in the coming times. "There are serious, serious shortcomings in its implementation...The record of its implementation is very patchy...and therefore, we have a huge challenge," Ramesh said at a programme here. He said while...
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