The Manmohan Singh government's options on keeping a check on the bill for the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA) may shrink further with Parliament's standing committee on finance likely to endorse the states' tally of BPL families pegged at 11.5 crore. The highly contentious issue of enumerating the poor has seen the government differ with the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), which originally considered universal PDS but later curtailed...
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Panel proposes UID-linked direct subsidy by Utpal Bhaskar
The government is planning a complete overhaul of the way the power sector is financed and subsidies are delivered, attempting to address a funding shortfall delaying the construction of electricity projects and worsening a chronic power deficit that threatens to sap growth in India’s energy-hungry economy.This exercise is based on a report submitted by a panel headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, to the power...
More »CAG slams 25 top Delhi's private schools by Akshaya Mukul
Delhi's private schools had complained that they were reeling under the burden of having to pay teachers higher salaries recommended by the 6th Pay Commission. A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), however, said they used the Pay Commission as an alibi to fatten themselves. In a damning indictment, the auditor held that 25 elite private schools passed on the burden of implementing the recommendations of the 6th Pay...
More »Will Unique Identity Number derail NREGA? by Alok Pandey and Tanima Biswas
Two of the UPA's flagship programmes, the Unique Identity Number project (UID) and Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme are on a collision course. "I am not against technology, by I think linking the Unique Identity Number project to NREGA can be very dangerous," said Jean Dreze, Member , National Advisory Council. Right now, all that a person needs to ask for work under NREGA is to fill up a form and get the...
More »Farmers stop repaying loans taken during 2008-2010 by KV Subramanya
Agricultural Debt Wavier and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS-2008), which was introduced by the Union Government in 2008 to provide debt relief to farmers, has backfired in Chickballapur district. Under the belief that the Government would come out with a similar debt wavier/relief scheme in the future, a majority of farmers have stopped repaying fresh agricultural loans they have taken during 2008-09 and 2009-10, subsequent to the implementation of ADWDRS-2008. Thereby, many farmers,...
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