The Sheila Dikshit government is ready to shut PDS shops in Delhi, ringing the death knell for not only the poor but also the middle class because black marketers will have a free run said Arvind Kejriwal, civil society activist and founder of Parivartan. Instead, the government proposes that Rs 1,000 be deposited in the bank accounts of the women of BPL families for buying foodgrain. Even though PDS is not...

-The Hindustan Times   A number of NGOs have opposed the Delhi government's proposal of giving Rs 1,000 cash per family per month instead of subsidised foodgrains under the Public Distribution System (PDS). A pilot project for approximately 100 families is being run in Raghubir Nagar in west Delhi wherein instead of the subsidised grain, the government is doling out Rs 1,000 in cash. NGOs working with poor people, however, are aghast...

Conditional cash transfers” (CCTs) are a new buzzword in policy circles. The idea is simple: give poor people cash conditional on good behaviour such as sending children to school. This helps to score two goals in one shot: poor people get some income support, and at the same time, they take steps to lift themselves out of poverty. CCT enthusiasm, however, is often based on a superficial reading of the Latin...

“Just as the civil society has been involved in the formulation of a Lokpal Bill, so should people's representatives be allowed to participate in framing a new, comprehensive law on Development Planning that includes resettlement and rehabilitation of those displaced by projects.” To intensify stir This is the demand of pradhans of several western Uttar Pradesh villages, who, along with along with representatives of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) spoke...

The curiosum of a ‘red regime’ with a knack to get re-elected term after term for over more than three decades within the ambit of a full-fledged multi-party democracy has finally disappeared. The Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has not merely lost the poll in West Bengal, it has been made mincemeat of. Its vote share has come down from close to 50 per cent...