-The Financial Express Notwithstanding ‘serious differences’ among its members, a parliamentary panel reviewing the National food security bill, 2011, will submit its report to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday. The government aims to introduce the Bill in the forthcoming Budget session of Parliament. FE had reported last month that the panel would submit its report by mid-January. The 31-member panel, chaired by Lok Sabha MP Vilas Muttemwar, had been examining the Bill...

-The Indian Express The Parliamentary Standing Committee examining the National food security bill is considering to recommend to the government to do away with the categorisation of “general” and “priority” (similar to the below poverty line) households in the legislation and provide uniform food guarantee to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population. Keeping in mind the fiscal implications, the committee is likely to...

The total expenditure on central schemes for the poor and on the major subsidies exceeds the states' share of central taxes. These schemes are chronic bad performers due to a culture of immunity in public administration and weakened local governments. Arguing that the poor should be trusted to use these resources better than the state, a radical redirection with substantial direct transfers to individuals and complementary decentralisation to local governments...

-Pratirodh.com If Year 2012 earned the sobriquet of “Year of Scams’ due to serial expose of “super social cop” Arvind Kejeriwal, and the year-end tragic death of girl in Delhi gang rape case reminded us about the most ugly manifestation of ‘Republic of Patriarchy’ in India, Year 2013 promises to be a game changer for the fortunes of welfare state in India as well as political fortunes of UPA-2.   If Narendra Modi,...

-National Human Rights Commission The National Human Rights Commission organized a day-long National Conference on 'Right to Food' in New Delhi today. Addressing it, Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Chairperson, NHRC said that the Commission has always been concerned with the issue. Due to it's intervention, there is a lot of improvement now in Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput (KBK) Districts of Odisha which reported starvations deaths. The NHRC Chairperson said that there is...