-The Economic Times   A day after the Work Bank marked out deficiencies in the country's public distribution system (PDS) for foodgrain, a senior government official has said that restricting public distribution to below poverty line (BPL) households has been a failure in India. "The mess in the public distribution system has been created by the notion that it is only meant for the poor. All problems of the current system are...

Within weeks of getting bail from the Supreme Court in connection with charges of sedition, human rights activist Binayak Sen has been made member of the Planning Commission's Steering Committee on Health, which will advise the panel on the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012-2017). Binayak Sen, who was released on bail from the Raipur jail last month, will, based on his experience of having worked as a paediatrician in Chhattisgarh's tribal belt,...

India's poverty is estimated to have declined to 32 per cent in 2009-10 from 37.2 per cent five years ago, as per preliminary findings of the Planning Commission. The estimates are based on the formula suggested by the Tendulkar Committee for computing the number of poor in the country. "2009-10 data show a decline in poverty from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 32 per cent in 2009-10 as the per the...

Planning Commission on Wednesday claimed the UPA government’s inclusive agenda had uplifted around 7 crore from below poverty line (BPL) during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2007-12). The initial findings suggest that absolute poverty in the country may have come down by five percentage points during the 11th Plan. Satisfied with the figures, deputy chairman of Plan panel Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the government’s policy for inclusive growth is paying off. He...

India’s apex planning body may cap national poverty at 32% for the purpose of calculating welfare benefits in the 12th Five-year Plan that starts on 1 April 2012, it said a day before a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The development comes on a day the Supreme Court asked Montek Singh Ahluwalia to respond why it should not strike down an earlier cap of 36% poverty after the government sought...