-The Financial Express Notwithstanding ‘serious differences’ among its members, a parliamentary panel reviewing the National Food Security Bill, 2011, will submit its report to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday. The government aims to introduce the Bill in the forthcoming Budget session of Parliament. FE had reported last month that the panel would submit its report by mid-January. The 31-member panel, chaired by Lok Sabha MP Vilas Muttemwar, had been examining the Bill...

-The Hindustan Times Gujarat may have a small Muslim population but the state, according to the Planning Commission, contributes significantly to the high incidence of poverty among the community nationally. In the 12th Plan approved by the National Development Council, the plan panel lists Gujarat along with UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam as the states accounting for high urban and rural poverty ratio among Muslims. “poverty ratio for Muslims was 33.9%...

-The Telegraph The Centre is poised to launch a pilot project to study the delivery of food subsidy through direct cash transfer, a proposed system that civil society groups feel will end up inconveniencing the poor beneficiaries. The food and consumer affairs ministry will start the pilot scheme in the six Union territories next month, a top government source told The Telegraph. Now, households buy food grains at subsidised rates (called the “central...

-The Indian Express The Parliamentary Standing Committee examining the National Food Security Bill is considering to recommend to the government to do away with the categorisation of “general” and “priority” (similar to the below poverty line) households in the legislation and provide uniform food guarantee to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population. Keeping in mind the fiscal implications, the committee is likely to...

-Pratirodh.com If Year 2012 earned the sobriquet of “Year of Scams’ due to serial expose of “super social cop” Arvind Kejeriwal, and the year-end tragic death of girl in Delhi gang rape case reminded us about the most ugly manifestation of ‘Republic of Patriarchy’ in India, Year 2013 promises to be a game changer for the fortunes of welfare state in India as well as political fortunes of UPA-2.   If Narendra Modi,...