Anna Hazare's campaign may lead to a new Lokpal Bill, but it has legitimised middle-class vigilantism and other kinds of civil society mobilisation. NOW that Anna Hazare has declared victory, it is time to take stock of one of the most powerful recent mobilisations of people in India, focussed on influencing policy or lawmaking processes. The victory, however, is largely symbolic. The original demand of the movement, carefully built around Hazare's...
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Starving India may get the Bill but not the food by Apoorva Dutt
Long promised by the UPA government, the food security bill will be tabled in parliament in December this year. However, the National Advisory Council (NAC), which drafted the proposal, is tussling with the government over the “dilution and misdirection” of the Bill. The final Bill diverges from the original NAC draft on key issues: adoption of alternatives to the PDS such as cash transfers, the risk of inflation due to...
More »Madhya Pradesh's high-tech solution for PDS by Latha Jishnu and Jyotika Sood
State links PDS to UID to plug leakages in food supplies but gaps remain Madhya Pradesh has opted for the technologically most sophisticated—and costliest—method for revamping its public distribution system (PDS). It is one of a handful of states that is trying to ensure that subsidised food reaches the segment it is meant for, the poorest of the population or those below the poverty line (BPL). But the route it has...
More »Scanning 2.4 Billion Eyes, India Tries to Connect Poor to Growth by Lydia Polgreen
Ankaji Bhai Gangar, a 49-year-old subsistence farmer, stood in line in this remote village until, for the first time in his life, he squinted into the soft glow of a computer screen. His name, year of birth and address were recorded. A worker guided Mr. Gangar’s rough fingers to the glowing green surface of a scanner to record his fingerprints. He peered into an iris scanner shaped like binoculars that...
More »Rs20cr to be screened for diabetes, BP by Kounteya Sinha
Hypertension and diabetes seem to be rampant in two of India's most modern metropolises, Bangalore and Chennai. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said under his department's programme to test people for the twin diseases, 14% and 21% were found to be suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, respectively, in Banglaore. In Chennai, out of 3 lakhs tested, 50,000 were found to be diabetic and another 60,000 hypertensive. Azad described the...
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