The income limit for households for qualifying as a beneficiary under the BPL (below poverty line) list has been pegged at about Rs. 27,000 per annum, according to the methodology approved by the Union Cabinet on Thursday. A household with an annual earning of more than Rs. 27,000 will stand excluded from the BPL list. This is what the automatic exclusion and automatic inclusion criteria and the seven deprivation indicators are...

The draft Communal Violence Bill, prepared by a Working Group (WG) of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), goes beyond existing legislation in four significant ways: it recognises identity-based or targeted crimes and organised mass violence as special offences, while placing accountability of public officials at the heart of the law, with varying penalties for dereliction of duty. Finally, it provides for the creation of a National Authority and...

-BBC   India's cabinet has approved a proposal for a survey to identify people living below the poverty line, which also redefines what constitutes poverty. It will classify the rural poor into "destitutes, manual scavengers and primitive tribal groups". Urban poor will be defined as those in vulnerable shelters, low-paid jobs and homes headed by women or children. The survey, to be conducted alongside a caste census later this year, will help identify those...

A World Bank review of India’s social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer, reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally, a social security package including health care for those without regular employment. The report titled ‘Social Protection for a Changing India’, was commissioned by the Planning Commission. The bank said the three-pillar approach should be combined with social...

-IBN   Despite India spending over two per cent of GDP in social protection schemes, their returns in terms of poverty reduction are yet to reach full potential, a World Bank report has said, pointing to "high leakages" in PDS and "uneven implementation" of MNREGA across states. The report, the first comprehensive review of India's social welfare and anti-poverty initiatives, said about 60 per cent of grains released by government under public...