The National Food Security Bill, 2010 that aims to provide subsidised foodgrain to the very poor is welcome, but its definition of ‘food security’ is too narrow. The Rome declaration on World Food Security (at the World Food Summit in 1996) states that “we, the heads of state and government ... reaffirm the right of everyone to have (physical and economic) access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the...

In a bid to curb the misuse of free information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, the state information commissioner has recommended that not more than 100 page-photocopies should be given free of cost to those below the Poverty Line. Chief information commissioner Suresh Joshi said the clause under which information is given free of cost to below Poverty Line persons, was being misused. He cited a case where...

Poverty estimates stumble on differing definitions of the household for statistical and policy purposes Officially, the Planning Commission accepted the Tendulkar committee’s report on revision of poverty estimates after the empowered group of ministers on food security asked the commission to issue a final estimate of poverty in the country. Despite the commission’s acceptance, the ministerial group asked it for another estimate of poor households. The simple reason is that the...

With an eye on the proposed National Food Security legislation, the government has set up an expert panel for identification of families living Below Poverty Line (BPL) in urban areas. The panel has been asked to submit its report in the next four months. The eight-member panel is headed by former Planning Commission member and economist S R Hashim and also includes Chief Statistician of India Pronab Sen as its...

The Indian Electricity Act, 2003, initially envisaged that the appropriate governments shall endeavour to supply electricity to all areas including villages and hamlets (Section 6), thus placing the responsibility for ensuring rural electricity supply on state governments. The UPA-I government amended this section to read as follows after detailed deliberations internally and with opposition parties: the concerned state government and the central government shall jointly endeavour to provide access to...