-Express News Service   Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission of India Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that most of the people in India want to remain below the poverty line in order to receive food grains at subsidised rates. He told reporters here on Monday that as asked by the government and some organisations, the Planning Commission would constitute a technical committee to determine the below poverty line (BPL). On the Supreme Court’s directions to...

Over the past week, I’ve chronicled my investigative research on starvation in India – a project I’ve been working on with a colleague from the Centre for Equity Studies, a New Delhi think tank. We’ve told stories of people who were forced to eat poisoned roots to stay alive; a family that suffered the deaths of members from three different generations in a span of 24 hours; a woman faced with...

In upholding the Right to Free and Compulsory Education for all Children, commonly known as the Right to Education (RTE), the Supreme Court signalled the beginning of a new approach to education. It marks a shift from the current institution-centric system to one that puts children and their interests at the core.  Most important, it is recognition of the pivotal role that education plays in a person's life, and that every...

BANWARA, India – In the fall of 2006, Gita Devi was pregnant with her sixth child when her family fell on hard times. A severe drought made it more difficult than ever to find farm work here in India’s northeastern plains. The family couldn’t afford food. It was unable to get a government ration card to buy grains and rice at steep discounts, even though it clearly was poor enough to...

-PTI Political leaders may have divergent views on implementation of provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, but a senior social scientist here feels that it may not be in the interest of countries like India in view of its socio-economic conditions. "The Act in my opinion is not in favour of India in view of its socio-economic conditions. It may be good for foreign countries but definitely not for Hindustan,"...