Introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011, the UPA government’s Food Security Bill is finally going to be discussed in the current (Budget) Session of Parliament. The proposed legislation is now slated to see many additional amendments from the government, following criticism from the States, NGOs and diverse stake-holders working on access to food and child health. Attempt here is to summarise in a Q & A format the...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Govt likely to go for pension universalization-Elizabeth Roche and Kirthi V Rao
-Live Mint Move may help the Congress renew its appeal to a traditional constituency; activists raise objections In yet another move that the ruling Congress Party hopes will help renew its appeal to a traditional constituency, the ministry of rural development has indicated it is likely to accept the recommendations of a panel that has suggested the universalization of pensions. The task force headed by Planning Commission member Mihir Shah was set up...
More »Brides on sale, for cash and cattle -Amarjeet Singh
-The Times of India BHOPAL: Brides are being bought in Madhya Pradesh - sometimes in exchange for a buffalo and some cash. It might have sounded bizarre had there not been such a tragic tinge to it. In districts like Ashoknagar and Guna, where men far outnumber women probably due to female foeticide, desperate grooms are turning to human traffickers to find a wife. It's no problem if they don't have deep...
More »Those who stand and wait-Sreelatha Menon
-The Business Standard For some people, travelling by train to their village 1,400 km away is a journey through hell. These are people who travel unreserved. Their suffering is all the more traumatic for being symbolic of the apathy of those who run the trains and the country. Saraswati Mondal, an illiterate domestic worker in Delhi, going to Murshidabad by Kalka Mail goes to New Delhi station, walks into a crowd of...
More »A bigger helping for food Bill
-The Business Standard FM allocates Rs 10,000 cr to implement the programme; this is apart from the usual food subsidy requirement of Rs 80,000 cr for the year The most ambitious social security programme of the government, the National Food Security Bill, got a leg-up in the 2013-14 Budget, with Finance Minister P Chidambaram allocating Rs 10,000 crore for implementing it. This allocation is over and above the usual food subsidy requirement of...
More »