The Union government has tabled two bills in the Lok Sabha in the last week of the winter session. Since one of them is the lok pal bill, it has hijacked virtually all the public attention. This is a pity for two reasons. First, there is considerable doubt whether the lok pal bill — in any form — can really be the magic solution that Team Anna would like us...
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This NGO fights for farmers' rights by Nandhu Sundaram
Ajay Vir Jakhar is the chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, a prominent forum for farmers. Over the years, his group has fought for everything from better NREGA to a better Right to Food Act. When he speaks about farmers, his demeanour is one of an impassioned pleader for their rights. In an exclusive interview with The Times of India, he spoke about how NREGS could be modified to make it...
More »Problems with the Food Bill by Arvind Panagariya
While some may view the food security Bill as the instrument of combating poverty, this distinction belongs to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the flagship anti-poverty programme of the United Progressive Alliance government. The proponents of the food security Bill at the National Advisory Council have promoted it as the instrument of fighting widespread and rising hunger, instead. But what is the empirical basis of the claims of widespread and...
More »Record grain output in 2011 facilitates Bill
-PTI The agriculture sector performed exceedingly well in 2011, with record grain production of over 240 million tonnes giving enough leeway for the government to lift a ban on exports of wheat and non-basmati rice and introduce the food security bill in Parliament. Farmers’ long-standing demand for crop loans at a 4% rate of interest was met during the year, although with a rider that the facility would be available to...
More »In action-packed 2011, Supreme Court cleared over 79,000 cases by J Venkatesan
The year 2011 saw the highest number of cases disposed of in recent years, with more than 79,000 cases cleared under the leadership of Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia. In his Law Day address, Justice Kapadia rejected the allegation made in certain quarters about the huge pendency of cases and said: “There is a backlog of cases. However, it is not as big as is sought to be projected.” Seventy-four...
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