Despite the much-hyped rural consumption boom and all the social sector programmes of the government, the income inequality between the rural and urban consumer widened to 91% in the first five years of the United Progressive Alliance coming to power in 2004. According to the 66th round of the household consumption expenditure survey released by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on Friday, the per capita expenditure level of the urban...
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Sonia-ratified food security bill on govt's court by Nitin Sethi
Congress President Sonia Gandhi has formally sent the proposed National Food Security bill to the government on behalf of theNational Advisory Council (NAC) that she chairs. Setting all doubts at rest about where she stands, the bill explicitly seeks that the subsidized rations be provided to at least 90% of rural population, and 50% of urban India. It urges the government to ensure that at least 46% and 28% of...
More »UIDAI proposes directcash transfer of subsidies by Sujay Mehdudia
In a move that could revolutionise the subsidy payment mechanism for LPG cylinder and kerosene oil to the beneficiaries, especially the poor, and change the fertilizer subsidy payment mechanism for the farmers, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has suggested direct cash transfer through banks and ATMs to the targeted groups to ‘plug leakages' in the implementation of these schemes. The move is also likely to revamp the working of...
More »Govt to adopt NAC food security target by Rajeev Deshpande
-The Times of India The government is set to accept the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council's recommendation to cover 75% rural and 50% urban population under a food security law, but wants to keep the percentages outside the language of the Act itself. UPA-2 is inclined to set the percentage of population covered in a notification or schedule accompanying the Act so that it can be revised by executive order...
More »Jean Dreze, economist interviewed by Ullekh NP
Jean Dreze, until recently the intellectual driving force behind the National Advisory Council , is measured but unmistakable in his disenchantment with many current UPA welfare schemes. The economist who quit the Sonia Gandhi-led NAC in late June, won't comment on whether the UPA government has failed the NAC. But, he tells Ullekh NP, there's not enough empathy in the Indian establishment for the poor. Programmes like NREGA, he says, attract...
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