The institution of the BPL list has probably become the most potent symbol of the self-defeating approach of the Indian state towards poverty. Ostensibly this list, that identifies households below the poverty line so that benefits can be directed towards them, was meant as an instrument of poverty alleviation. Now it has become one of the biggest sources of obfuscation of the challenges of poverty. A poverty line is, at...

After sitting on the proposal for four years, the Planning Commission has approved the union agriculture ministry’s modified national agricultural insurance scheme. More than half a dozen different models of farm insurance have been tried out since the early 1970s but without much success. None of these schemes has been economically viable. We now have one more experiment being launched. No more than a fraction of the country’s over 120...

Funding commitments for water and sanitation declined as a share of overall development aid over the past decade despite strong evidence that making the two services available to communities could lower health-care costs, raise school attendance and improve productivity, according to a new United Nations report released today. “Neglecting sanitation and drinking water is a strike against progress,” said Maria Neira, UN World Health Organization’s (WHO) director of public health...

The uncertainty over the number of people to benefit from the proposed food security law has abated. With Sonia Gandhi in her new role as National Advisory Council chairperson keeping a vigil, the Planning Commission on Saturday dropped its reluctance to accept Tendulkar committee's report putting the size of the below poverty line (BPL) population at 37.2%. The Planning Commission had so far been keen on going with its own...

The argument within the government over how many people should benefit from the proposed National Food Security Act just got more convoluted. The Planning Commission, in a meeting of its members on Saturday, will consider if the country can do with two sets of figures — a lower estimate of poor for the UPA's flagship food scheme and for allocating subsidy, and the Tendulkar committee number for other purposes. The...