To perpetuate a system that assigns a household to a single BPL/APL category in circumstances in which poverty is multi-dimensional is not only bad economics, but unconscionable as well.  The pilot surveys for the next Census of BPL (below-poverty-line) households are due to begin. Discussions are now on to finalise the methodology for the survey, and as the BPL Census is a matter of the subsistence and survival of hundreds...

The uncertainty over the number of people to benefit from the proposed food security law has abated. With Sonia Gandhi in her new role as National Advisory Council chairperson keeping a vigil, the Planning Commission on Saturday dropped its reluctance to accept Tendulkar committee's report putting the size of the below poverty line (BPL) population at 37.2%. The Planning Commission had so far been keen on going with its own...

The ministry of rural development is looking to relax its norms so as to be able to extend assistance to the poor segments of the population who are not at present officially classified as living below the poverty line (BPL). It is going to do so by linking eligibility for the only Centrally sponsored scheme investing in skill development of the BPL population to the government’s marquee rural development initiative under...

If you want to understand why the Maoists grow stronger, watch frail Shyam Charan Kisku, 5, as he keeps hunger away by nibbling at a wild berry called Kendu on a hot April afternoon. Kisku and 40-odd children in this scraggly village of mud-and-thatch homes, 180km south-east of Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi, did not get their free lunch this day under the national mid-day meal scheme, the world’s largest cooked-meal programme. Kisku’s mother,...

The UPA government has betrayed its promise of inclusive growth over the years as a result of which poverty ratios have remained extremely high despite rapid economic growth, says Praful Bidwai. The new National Advisory Council must act urgently on nutritional security and public healthcare, he adds. The reconstitution of the National Advisory Council under Sonia Gandhi, announced by India’s United Progressive Alliance government, is good news. The original NAC died...