Good politics and good economics can make compatible bedfellows, if the timing is right. Food, its producers and consumers, are now the Centre's most potent political and economic battleground. Politically speaking, this could be the best time for the UPA to reclaim its dog-eared pro-people credentials through the Bill. The Right to Food Bill has triggered many apprehensions, including fears of a higher subsidy burden, an adverse impact on private...

Weighed down by an unending season of corruption, the political leadership of ruling the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has stepped in to rescue the regime’s flagship rural employment guarantee scheme from discredit due to mounting allegations of endemic irregularities. The National Advisory Council of the UPA, headed by Sonia Gandhi, on Wednesday asked the Manmohan Singh government to expedite notification of the much-awaited rules that would allow public scrutiny of the...

-The Hindustan Times   A number of NGOs have opposed the Delhi government's proposal of giving Rs 1,000 cash per family per month instead of subsidised foodgrains under the Public Distribution System (PDS). A pilot project for approximately 100 families is being run in Raghubir Nagar in west Delhi wherein instead of the subsidised grain, the government is doling out Rs 1,000 in cash. NGOs working with poor people, however, are aghast...

The government is likely to accept most of the recommendations of Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) on the proposed food security law despite warnings that the suggestions would add to subsidy burden, increase dependence on imports and distort the country's food economy. The food ministry has set out plans that are in line with the NAC's proposal to widen the scope of the legislation, which seeks to provide legal...

The Planning Commission’s definition of poverty is inexplicable In the urban sprawl that is Delhi, as in any other metro in the country, earning no more than Rs 25 per day with a family to support would prove nightmarish. Food and clothes have to be bought, there may be school-going children, colds, fevers or upset stomachs to get treated, someone with a chronic problem needing long-term treatment. Surely, someone living...