By stubbornly overruling the National Advisory Council, the government risks defeating its purpose as a body that speaks for the poor and the disadvantaged. HAS the Manmohan Singh government begun to regard the National Advisory Council (NAC) as an adversary who should be undermined? Going by their exchanges on key issues such as food security, wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), and the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes...
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One step forward
The government has taken the first concrete step to start disbursing subsidies for things like kerosene, cooking gas and fertilisers to individuals, families and farmers by direct cash transfer. A task force under the leadership of Nandan Nilekani, who heads the Unique Identification Authority of India, has been given the target of getting a pilot going by the end of the year. The transfer system will piggyback on the solution...
More »Badwa committee uncovers PDS racket in Yavatmal
With the arrest of two drivers of trucks transporting wheat and other food grains meant for the Public Distribution System (PDS) by the Wadgaon Road police on Sunday night, the unabated PDS food grain pilferage racket stands exposed once again. According to Wadgaon Road police station officer (PSO) Baijnath Latpatte, drivers Firoz Shah Kasam (40) and Rafique Shah Kasam (45), both residents of Jafar Nagar, Yavatmal, were arrested after registering...
More »Hard questions about soft questions by P Sainath
There was in fact a successful auction of spectrum — only it was not conducted by the government but by its corporate sector cronies who made a fortune on the deal. On one pronouncement of his, you have to agree with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. His is not a ‘lame-duck government.' Cooked goose seems the more appropriate soubriquet. However, not a single new scam worth over Rs. 1 lakh crore has...
More »Food security scene getting grimmer
Food security scenario has been very grim in Orissa. It is getting grimmer day-by-day, thanks to the high food price inflation on the one hand and climatic aberrations like droughts, floods or untimely rains on the other. These extremes hurt the State most, as it has the maximum poor populace in the country. Data details the enormity. Around 9 per cent households face grave food security in the State. The proportion...
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