The Planning Commission’s latest affidavit to the Supreme Court in the right to food case reveals it has not taken the court’s advice to revise the thresholds and spending that determine the poverty line, although the commission admits to SPIRalling food costs and inflation. The affidavit was filed in a public interest litigation being pursued by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, which wants the government’s threshold of Rs. 12 and...

-The Hindu   Faced with strong protests from farmers and a demand from the Maharashtra government, the Centre on Tuesday announced the lifting of the ban on export of onions with immediate effect. The decision was taken by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. “Ban on onion export has been lifted,'' Union Minister for Science and Technology Vilasrao Deshmukh told journalists after the meeting. Union Agriculture...

-DNA   The proposed Prevention of Communal and Violence Bill is being pushed with an objective to check communal violence across the country. But the Dalits and minorities, who are often soft targets of communal violence, are sceptical about the Bill. They are wondering if it is a ploy to polarise the system instead of tackling the root cause that triggers unrest in the society. “I have apprehensions that the Bill would make...

The state cabinet on Wednesday cleared the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rule, 2011, that would facilitate the state government in implementing the RTE Act passed by the Centre in 2009. This means the children from slums can opt for any private school run by a central or international board in their vicinity. But, the state cabinet's decision to implement the Right To Education (RTE) Act in its true...

A survey conducted across nine states by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and Allahabad University suggests that the much maligned system has revived, prodded by politics, good governance and the apex court. It also found the poor to be averse to cash transfers Kotri is a mid-sized village in Desuri block (Pali district, Rajasthan), about 15 kilometres away from the nearest large bus stand and market place. We walked to...