-The Times of India The ongoing 'Bhagwati versus Sen' debate has generated more heat than light, necessitating correction. As an equal co-author of India's Tryst with Destiny, which defines the Bhagwati position, my stake in the debate is second to none. Two extreme characterisations of the positions of the two sides have emerged. The first has it that the differences between them are minimal with each side expressing the same ideas in...

-The Hindustan Times India's official poverty line-a vital economic statistic-is threatening to snowball into a major political controversy in an election year. Political parties are busy quibbling over the details of defining a poverty line amid a welter of protests from social activists who are accusing it of abdicating its responsibility. Economists set a poverty line to fix a threshold income to get a headcount of poor people in a country. Households...

-The Business Standard Growth, not entitlement, reduces poverty, according to the latest data The numbers may seem unrealistic, but the broad indication is loud and clear: among all available medicines, growth seems to be the most effective medicine against poverty at the moment. According to the recently released poverty data, states like Odisha, Bihar and Rajasthan have done well when it comes to reducing poverty in the last seven years. And these...

-Down to Earth   Despite high cost of treatment, private sector still takes care of 80 per cent of all outpatient care and about 60 per cent of all inpatient care A study on healthcare costs in India has reaffirmed what everyone knows-that private hospitals are not affordable for the common man. Getting treatment in these hospitals is at least 20 times costlier than the healthcare provided in district government hospitals, reveals the...

-PTI NEW DELHI: With barely a month left for the proposed launch of its ambition food security scheme, Delhi Government today finalised the various nitty gritties. A meeting of the Delhi Cabinet presided by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit gave its in-principle approval for formal launch of the scheme on August 20, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and finalised various aspects relating to implementation of the scheme. Though the scheme...