In a major shift in policy, the Centre now plans to confine food entitlement only to below poverty Line (BPL) households and completely exclude the existing category of the above poverty line families. This is one of the significant changes proposed in the National Food Security Bill which is currently being considered by the Parliamentary Standing Committee. Under the plan envisaged by the Centre, the task of identifying the BPL families will...
More »SEARCH RESULT
India needs to design proper pension programme to alleviate poverty of elderly-Neeraj Kaushal
-The Economic Times For nearly two decades, the Government of India has implemented a stingy pension programme for the elderly poor. "An insult to the dignity" of the elderly is how rural development minister Jairam Ramesh describes the pension amount of Rs 200 per month given under the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS). A few states provide a somewhat generous supplemental pension, most provide a tiny supplemental amount, some...
More »Impact of jobs crisis on youth among issues on agenda of UN labour conference
-The United Nations Nearly 5,000 delegates today kicked off a United Nations forum in Geneva focusing on the global jobs crisis and its impact on youth, as well as social protection and rights at work. The 101st International Labour Conference comes at a time when around 30 million people have been added to the unemployed since the 2008 financial crisis, and nearly 40 million more have stopped looking for employment, according to...
More »The politics of food for the hungry-Aruna Roy & Neha Saigal
The 28th of May, marked as “World Hunger Day,” has come and gone but for Pannu Bai Bhil, every day is hunger day. How does someone dealing with chronic hunger view a day marking her plight? Let those of us who overeat at least take stock of a hungry India pitted against bumper crops, number crunching, technologies for profit, markets, and growth rates. The solution for hunger lies in proper...
More »PM should head food security bill: MS Swaminathan- Jyotika Sood
Giving right to food is not enough to deliver food, say speakers at a conference on food security Agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan has called for setting up a body headed by the prime minister for effective execution of the National Food Security Bill (NFSB) once it is enacted. All chief ministers should be members of this board, he added. NFSB was cleared by the Union Cabinet and introduced in Parliament in...
More »