Direct cash transfers or food coupons should be used by the government to provide services to the poor, says Farzana Afridi, Assistant Professor, Economics and Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi. Afridi, who obtained her PhD in economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an MA in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, says that although the Mid Day Meal Programme is having a substantial effect, the...
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NSSO figures call Narendra Modi's bluff on malnutrition -Subodh Varma
-The Times of India Whichever way you slice and dice the data, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's statement about causes of malnutrition in the state he has been ruling for over a decade is wrong. In an interview to the Wall Street Journal, Modi had said malnutrition exists in Gujarat because it is "by and large a vegetarian state" and also because it is a middle class state which is "more...
More »Unemployment dole on the way out in State?-KPM Basheer
-The Hindu Unemployment dole, introduced in Kerala in 1982, the first State to do so, could soon be a thing of past if Labour Minister Shibu Baby John has his way. “We need to rethink on the unemployment dole as it does not serve any purpose now,” Mr. John toldThe Hindu . The government spends Rs.50 crore a year on the unemployment assistance scheme and there are roughly 3.5 lakh people getting...
More »Grapes of theft in villages without water to drink-Jaideep Hardikar
-The Telegraph In the desert-like barrenness of brown around him, Suresh Mangsuli is growing grapes. As the rest of his drought-hit village thirsts for drinking water, he splashes his three acres of vines with over 10,000 litres a day. His huge farm pond is brimming, insured against seepage by a black polythene sheet stretched across its floor. Its water is pumped out to irrigate the vineyard through a network of drip pipes. Growing grapes...
More »Inflation, poor monsoon hit consumption in eastern India-Shine Jacob & Nirmalya Behera
-The Business Standard Consumers say they cannot buy branded FMCG items in mobile phones, customers opt for low-end handsets while retaining brand loyalty Last year, Ashok Das, a farmer-cum-fisherman from the small industrial town of Rishra in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, had promised his younger son a branded television. But last year’s bad crop output and this season’s deficient monsoon made him change his plans and finally settle on a...
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