For purposes of food security, the Planning Commission today finally accepted that the number of people living below the poverty line in India is 37.2 per cent of the total population. The Plan panel, mandated by the empowered group of ministers chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to finalise the BPL numbers, will now meet the secretaries of food and expenditure on Tuesday to calculate the cost of providing food security...

The argument within the government over how many people should benefit from the proposed National Food Security Act just got more convoluted. The Planning Commission, in a meeting of its members on Saturday, will consider if the country can do with two sets of figures — a lower estimate of poor for the UPA's flagship food scheme and for allocating subsidy, and the Tendulkar committee number for other purposes. The...

Last summer, about 150 families of Kachan village in Jharkhand’s Palamu district decided to pool funds to repair their only community tube well. A drought, the worst in many years, had dried up two ponds; there were no wells around; and the tube well had been dysfunctional for a year. It took a lot of hardship and one whole month for them to put together what the mechanic had asked...

The Food Security Bill is going to be taken up afresh by the empowered group of ministers on Monday, on the back of relentless demands from activists to widen the ambit of the bill, with regard to quantum of ration and number of beneficiaries. The EGoM, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, will examine the draft in light of demands to increase monthly entitlement of foodgrain from 25kg provided for...

The proposed Food Security Bill should adopt a three-pronged strategy that constitutes a Universal Public Distribution System for all, low-cost foodgrains to the needy, and convergence in the delivery of nutrition safety net programmes.  In his latest budget speech, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced: “We are now ready with the draft Food Security Bill which will be placed in the public domain very soon.” Although no official draft has been...