-The Hindu More than 11.02 lakh households given works Tamil Nadu topped the list of States that provided jobs to rural households for 100 days as per the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) at the end of the second quarter of the financial year 2011-12. More than 11.02 lakh households benefited from the scheme in Tamil Nadu. Statistics Andhra Pradesh came second by providing jobs to 9.65 lakh households and Uttar Pradesh...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Struggling to enter the BPL club by Jean Drèze
The Planning Commission's poverty straightjacket is but one of a series of obstacles faced by “aspirants” to the BPL status. Nothing illustrates the absurdity of current food policies more poignantly than the plight of Dablu Singh's family in Latehar district, Jharkhand. About two years ago Dablu, a young Adivasi who survived mainly from casual labour, fell from a roof at work and broke his back. He is paralysed for life and...
More »‘Mahatma betrayed Dalits often’
-Deccan Chronicle It was Gandhi Jayanti. But young Dalit poet Meena Kandasamy was not ready to spare the Mahatma. “Like many other Dalit writers, I have reservations about Gandhi,” she said at the DC Kovalam Literary Festival here. “He betrayed Dalits several times.” Ms Meena added the Poona Pact imposed on the nation by Mahatma Gandhi had effectively blocked the political rise of Dalits. “Dr Ambedkar agreed to it since he...
More »Under Mayawati, Muslims fare worse than dalits in education by Abantika Ghosh
Mayawati may have demanded reservation for the Muslims in proportion to their population, but the community has little to cheer about during her five years' rule in Uttar Pradesh. An analysis of Muslims' share in employment and education shows how since 2007 the Muslims have fared worse than dalits in UP on the education front. Demolishing the tall claims of the minority concentration districts' programme to smithereens, the study shows...
More »How little can a person live on? by Utsa Patnaik
The Planning Commission's laughable estimates of the ‘poverty line' follow from a mistake in method that it made 30 years ago and has clung to ever since. The affidavit that the Planning Commission recently submitted before the Supreme Court stating that a person is to be considered ‘poor' only if his or her monthly spending is below Rs.781 (Rs.26 a day) in the rural areas and Rs.965 (Rs.32 a day) in...
More »