-The Hindu India's growth story of the last two decades has had one recurring theme: that the pattern of economic growth is accentuating insecurities. Yet, there continues to be a deep divide over whether the gains from growth ought to be ploughed back to achieve social security for everyone. Social security has come to be linked to job benefits, tying it to one's status as a worker in the formal or...
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Panel calls for cutting food security coverage, backs cash transfer -Surojit Gupta & Dipak Kumar Dash
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government should reduce coverage under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to 40% of the population from 67% and defer implementation of the scheme in states which have not complied with the rollout conditions, a panel appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recommended. The panel headed by former food minister Shanta Kumar submitted the report to the PM on Wednesday. Reforming the subsidy regime...
More »Farmers’ Suicides and Fatal Politics -Vasanthi Srinivasan
-Kafila.org With depressing regularity, the newspapers have been reporting farmers' suicides in many states. Recently, P Sainath wrote on BBC that around 296,438 farmers have committed suicide since 1995. He also mentions that cash crop cultivators of cotton, sugar cane, vanilla, pepper, groundnut etc account for the bulk of those suicides. According to a PIL heard by the Supreme Court in December 2014, around 3146 farmers in Maharashtra have committed suicide...
More »Good scheme in bad health -Kundan Pandey
-Down to Earth The primary health centre (PHC) at Ajara block in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district would handle just eight childbirth cases a year till 2011. Today, it handles over 125 such cases in a year. The health centre became efficient because of a Central government scheme that empowers communities to monitor public health services. In 2010, the residents participated in a jan sunwai (public hearing) session, in which they told senior...
More »Modi office sits on RTI chief selection -Ananya Sengupta
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has been headless for the past five months, spawning an unprecedented backlog of applications and fears the delay could sound the "death knell" for transparency. Over 200 people - other commission members and retired bureaucrats - are vying to become the chief information commissioner, according to activist Lokesh Batra who had filed a plea on the matter under the Right to Information Act...
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