-The Financial Express Food Security Bill will raise the subsidy burden by 18%. The debate should be about the rise in costs of households due to leakages in PDS and price hike of other nutritious food items, and how these costs can be minimised by DBT In a recent article, Surjit Bhalla ("Manmonia's FSB: 3% of GDP", July 6, Financial Express-http://goo.gl/qoIbd3) has asserted that the Food Security Bill will cost 3% of...
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The unaccounted costs of targeting-Martin Ravallion
-The Indian Express A degree of targeting is useful in ensuring that policies are effective in reducing poverty. But we have to be careful how this is done. With the right policies, India has a good chance of seeing accelerated poverty reduction in the coming decades. As I have previously argued, this will require that India does a better job in reaching the country's many poor people through its social policies. However,...
More »Why the food security bill matters to developing Asia-Vinod Thomas
-The Economic Times For all the controversy around it, the breathtaking scope of India's food security scheme for nearly two-thirds of the population sends a powerful message across developing Asia. The region leads the world in the pace of economic growth, yet public spending on social protection as a share of GDP is lower than that in any other region except sub-Saharan Africa. Economic growth is a proven means to lift millions...
More »Direct benefit transfer scheme for LPG to be extended to 35 more districts-Sujay Mehdudia
-The Hindu Following good response to the LPG direct benefit transfer scheme, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry on Monday decided to extend it to 35 more districts from September 1, taking the total coverage to 55 districts. The scheme had met with considerable success in the 20 districts it was launched. Under the scheme, consumers get their subsidy directly in their bank accounts. The decision to include 35 more districts would...
More »Economists on the Wrong Foot: a critique of Jagdish Bhagwati and Amartya Sen-Ashish Kothari and Aseem Shrivastava
-IndiaResists.com The ongoing debate between two stalwart economists, Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati, must be joined by those who understand contemporary realities and challenges in terms altogether different from those of mainstream economists. In a recent (July 27) article in Times of India, Bhagwati's co-author Arvind Panagariya characterizes the differences between the two in the following terms. Sen favours education and health measures as being the first steps to tackle poverty...
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