With the proposed food security law likely to get a momentum after the formal constitution of the National Advisory Council (NAC), under the chairmanship of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the Rural Development Ministry has also decided to speed up the process for identification of rural below poverty line (BPL) families. In this context, the ministry has decided to conduct pilot studies across the country for fine tuning the parameters required...
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Ensuring food security for all by Pradeep S Mehta
The National Food Security Bill, 2010 that aims to provide subsidised foodgrain to the very poor is welcome, but its definition of ‘food security’ is too narrow. The Rome declaration on World Food Security (at the World Food Summit in 1996) states that “we, the heads of state and government ... reaffirm the right of everyone to have (physical and economic) access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the...
More »Urban BPL committee to submit report in 4 months by Ravish Tiwari
With an eye on the proposed National Food Security legislation, the government has set up an expert panel for identification of families living Below Poverty Line (BPL) in urban areas. The panel has been asked to submit its report in the next four months. The eight-member panel is headed by former Planning Commission member and economist S R Hashim and also includes Chief Statistician of India Pronab Sen as its...
More »Dynamic poverty list to help target aid by Amiti Sen
The new BPL census will have a big automatic inclusion and exclusion component, which is expected to make the list more credible, addressing the allegation that targeted benefits for the poor are cornered by the undeserving. A credible BPL census will be key to the implementation of the food security act being finalised by the government. While the new poverty lines suggested by the committee headed by S D Tendulkar...
More »81% of class V kids in TN can't read English by M Ramya
Nearly 65% of class V students in rural areas of Tamil Nadu can’t read even a class II textbook in their mother tongue, 45% don’t know subtraction and nearly 81% can’t read simple English sentences, the Annual Status of Education Report for 2009, compiled by Delhi-based NGO Pratham Foundation, has revealed. The findings of the survey, which had a sample size of 33,000 students in both private and government schools,...
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