The state must ensure that individual freedoms not only exist, but that everyone has the ability to experience them The ongoing theories of justice in mainstream political philosophy are very strongly dependent today on a way of thinking largely initiated by Thomas Hobbes in the 17th century, with an overwhelming concentration on a hypothetical “social contract” that the people of a sovereign state can be imagined to have endorsed. This presumed...

The central vigilance committee led by retired Justice D. P. Wadhwa, which was established by the Supreme Court of India to monitor its orders in the PIL on the right to food, has come out with a strong indictment of the public distribution system (PDS). Based on State-level reports for Delhi, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Karnataka, the committee has identified widespread corruption at different levels of the...

The Empowered Group of Ministers that met here on Thursday has advised the Union Food Ministry to get the National Food Security Bill vetted by the Law Ministry before placing it in the Union Cabinet for approval. The proposed Bill envisages provision of 25 kg. of wheat or rice to BPL families at Rs. 3 per kg per month. However, despite burgeoning wheat stocks, the EGoM chaired by Union Finance Minister...

In its visits to about 10 to 12 States across the country so far, the Central Vigilance Committee on Public Distribution System (PDS), constituted under the order of the Supreme Court, has received complaints mainly about improper working of the PDS and diversion of foodgrains into the black market. The committee, under the chairmanship of Justice D.P. Wadhwa, former judge of Supreme Court, conducted a public hearing in Puducherry on Tuesday....

What’s Working... Cashless facility for hospital care, medicine for BPL families Ensures one-point diagnosis, treatment with empanelled hospitals Fixed charges for procedures reduces chances of fleecing Empanelled private hospitals help ease burden on state ones *** ...And What’s Not Lack of awareness leads to under-utilisation of the scheme Flaws in BPL data deprives many of the RSBY card Outcome dependent on regular monitoring of service providers Could shift focus from need to improve...