-Down to Earth Poor, elderly not able to match fingerprints on system, not getting food grain as a result Thousands of poor villagers have been pushed to the brink of starvation in Bihar as the biometric system installed to curb leakages in the public distribution system (PDS) is proving to be the stumbling block on their way. The Food and Consumer Protection Department in the state has made it mandatory for use of...

After the outbreak of COVID-19 in China during early January this year and its dissemination globally within a few days, health experts have suggested ways to check its spread exponentially among the rest of the population. In the age of internet connectivity, work-from-home and self-isolation have been advised as solutions to ensure social distancing and avoid large-scale social gatherings. Experts have asked governments and private enterprises to keep people at...

-The Indian Express Madhya Pradesh government has now found a solution. Under the Aadhaar-enabled PDS, the respective grain quota is given to the nominee after verification of his biometric details. It’s not uncommon for beneficiaries of the public distribution system (PDS) to miss out on their quota of monthly food grains for reasons ranging from disability to old age to failure of the biometric verification system. But the Madhya Pradesh government has now...

In the financial year 2017-18 when tractor sales touched new heights, it was said by many of the NDA (viz. National Democratic Alliance) government supporters that rural demand has revived on account of adequate monsoon rainfall and higher minimum support prices for crops. Many economists and newspaper columnists also denied the existence of any rural distress. An alternative perspective, however, was also presented by rural economists like Dr. Himanshu who teaches...

-PTI In its survey, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights said it has observed that a section of children in the mica mining areas are deprived of opportunities and have started working as labourers to supplement their family income Over 5,000 children in the age group of six to 14 years have abandoned education in mica mining districts of Jharkhand and Bihar, and a section of them have started working...