Conditional cash transfers” (CCTs) are a new buzzword in policy circles. The idea is simple: give poor people cash conditional on good behaviour such as sending children to school. This helps to score two goals in one shot: poor people get some income support, and at the same time, they take steps to lift themselves out of poverty. CCT enthusiasm, however, is often based on a superficial reading of the Latin...
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Mending the Food Security Act by Jean Drèze
The National Advisory Council has proposed a framework for the National Food Security Act. But its potential could be wasted by a flawed approach to the PDS. Two years have passed since the Central government announced that a draft National Food Security Act (NFSA) would be posted on the Food Ministry's website “very soon.” After prolonged deliberations, a detailed framework for this Act has recently been proposed by the National Advisory...
More »A.P. Shah criticises nuclear bodies for‘half-hearted approach'
-The Hindu The former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, A.P. Shah, on Friday criticised the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) for their “half-hearted approach” to the ongoing public hearing on the safety, viability and cost efficiency of nuclear energy. Mr. Shah is heading a ‘People's Tribunal' along with former Justice S.D. Pandit, which is conducting...
More »Dangers of all-powerful Lokpal by Nikhil Dey and Ruchi Gupta
The Jan Lokpal is being vested with sweeping powers, which are susceptible to misuse. The centralised structure of the Lokpal will be ill-suited for sorting out governance deficit. People will be confined to being complainants and applicants. There is need to make the Jan Lokpal people-centric FOR many who quite rightly guessed that the Lokpal Bill drafted by the government would be a non-starter, the alternative merited automatic support. However, little...
More »Bengal has most criminal MLAs; TN most crorepatis
The West Bengal assembly tops the list of criminal candidates and it has 102 such MLAs. Most of these MLAs have criminal serious charges pending against them. Among the other three assemblies -- Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Assam -- which have been analysed by the National Election Watch, the richest assembly is (without a doubt) Tamil Nadu. The report on Kerala assembly is still awaited. It has 120 crorepati candidates in the...
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