The basic problem with the Approach Paper, as with its predecessor, is that its theoretical paradigm is wrong. WHAT used to be said of the Bourbon kings of France applies equally to the Indian Planning Commission: “They learn nothing and they forget nothing.” The Approach Paper to the Twelfth Five-Year Plan gives one a sense of déjà vu. It is hardly any different from the Approach Paper to the previous Plan...

The 12th Plan Approach Paper looks upon land more as raw material for mining and industrialisation than as a source of livelihood for the poor. DESPITE a fast economic growth, more than 60 per cent of the population of India is still dependent on land. The 12th Plan Approach Paper, however, looks upon land not as a source of livelihood for the poor but as raw material for mining and industrialisation....

The Planning Commission's laughable estimates of the ‘poverty line' follow from a mistake in method that it made 30 years ago and has clung to ever since. The affidavit that the Planning Commission recently submitted before the Supreme Court stating that a person is to be considered ‘poor' only if his or her monthly spending is below Rs.781 (Rs.26 a day) in the rural areas and Rs.965 (Rs.32 a day) in...

-The Hindu   The death toll in the recent violence at Gopalgarh in Bharatpur district went up to 10 with one of the injured persons breathing his last at the Sawai Man Singh Government Hospital here early on Monday morning. The deceased, 40-year-old Shabbir, was hospitalised in a serious condition after the September 14 clash. A resident of Pathrali village near Gopalgarh town, Shabbir had sustained injuries caused by pellets and also had...

Twenty five Indian states have favoured striking down IPC Sec 309 that criminalises attempt to commit suicide by making it punishable with imprisonment. Responding to a query by the Union home ministry, states recently sent their comments concurring with the recommendation of the 210th Report of the Law Commission which advocated repealing Sec 309. It had argued that attempting suicide was “manifestation of a diseased condition of mind” that called for...