Every day, through scorching summers and chilly winters, Himmat pedals his bicycle rickshaw through New Delhi's crowded streets, earning barely enough to feed his family. But to India's government he is not poor – not even close. The 5,000 rupees ($110) he earns a month pays for a tiny room with a single light bulb and no running water for his family of four. After buying just enough food to keep...

The debate over the National Food Security Act has been reduced to a circus for political parties, NGOs and the National Advisory Council to perform verbal calisthenics. The discussion on who is entitled, who is not entitled and who should be entitled has gone on for over two years. The discourse is deteriorating into informed nit-picking. The time for debate is over; the time for decision is overdue. Let us get...

-Express News Service   A Delhi government pilot study to test waters in the cash-for-food scheme is facing stiff resistance. NGO Parivartan, led by RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, raised questions on Thursday about the move. Another NGO, which has been entrusted with the pilot study, has, meanwhile, alleged that Parivartan workers have threatened the families who are part of the study. The pilot study, involving 500 households in Raghubir Nagar, West Delhi, is...

Exercise begins in June, but beneficiaries of govt schemes will still be those identified as poor by Plan panel India has embarked on an exerciseto identify the poor that will in reality end up choosing who will be eligible for benefits and who won’t, an outcome that could be controversial. The Union cabinet on Thursday approved the launch in June of a census to identify those living below the poverty line (BPL),...

Environmentalist Ashish Kothari was a member of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (constituted by Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and Ministry of Tribal Affairs) to review the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA). The committee, headed by Dr N C Saxena submitted its report recently to the Central government. During the course of its work the committee visited Odisha to assess the performance of the FRA there, particularly in the...