With its politically crucial food security agenda facing time-consuming scrutiny by a parliamentary panel, the government is considering the option of rolling out key elements of the programme through an executive decision that can be later subsumed by an act of Parliament. Concerned the bill that negotiated divides within the government and involved discussions with the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council might be delayed till later this year, the Centre could...

The Union government and the Planning Commission will take a decision on the new Below Poverty Line (BPL) cap only after a report is submitted by the Parliamentary Committee on the Food Security Bill and the completion of the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC). As things stand, divergent views have already surfaced raising a question mark on the fate of the Food Security Bill. Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen said...

Muslims, SCs, STs reflect better social indices, closer to national averages Early in the morning, Mohammad Nadeem, a 25-year-old ‘pakka adati’, big wholesaler, at one of Muzaffarnagar’s fruit and vegetable mandis, briskly sets about selling carrots and oranges. As he expertly sifts through sacks of fresh produce, it’s difficult to picture him hawking peanuts by the roadside. But for five years in this bustling western Uttar Pradesh mandi, Nadeem’s store...

-The Hindu   ‘Neo-liberal policies fine-tuned to global capitalist accumulation to blame' Neo-liberal policies fine-tuned to global capitalist accumulation are increasing poverty, mass deprivation and unemployment besides undermining food security in India, economist Utsa Patnaik said on Friday. Delivering the inaugural ‘T.G. Narayanan Memorial Lecture on Social Deprivation' under the auspices of the Media Development Foundation and the Asian College of Journalism here, Prof. Patnaik said contrary to the claims by the Centre about...

Has the explosion of media in India been a mixed blessing? With more than 70,000 newspapers and over 500 satellite channels in several languages, Indians are seemingly spoilt for choice and diversity. India is already the biggest newspaper market in the world - over 100 million copies sold each day. Advertising revenues have soared. In the past two decades, the number of channels has grown from one - the dowdy state-owned broadcaster...