-The Hindu Financial burden has to be assessed before scheme is extended to higher income groups: Chandy Consequent on the Congress party’s core committee recommendation to raise the number of subsidised LPG cylinders from six to nine a year, the Kerala government on Wednesday announced that the additional three subsidised cylinders would be targeted at the BPL (below the poverty line) category on the basis of the consumption pattern in 2011-12. Addressing a...

-Outlook National Advisory Council has asked the Women and Child Development Ministry to prepare a national policy aimed at curbing the sharp decline in the child sex ratio. Speaking to reporters here, Secretary WCD Prem Narain said the NAC has made several recommendations including the formulation of a 'national policy' on the child sex ratio. He said these recommendations will be deliberated upon in an Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee meeting on September 25. "The NAC...

Direct cash transfers or food coupons should be used by the government to provide services to the poor, says Farzana Afridi, Assistant Professor, Economics and Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi. Afridi, who obtained her PhD in economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an MA in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, says that although the Mid Day Meal Programme is having a substantial effect, the...

-The United Nations A new United Nations report advocates that governments use fiscal and labour market policies to reduce income inequality, maintaining that this not only leads to social benefits but will spur economic growth and development. Produced by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Trade and Development Report 2012 says that recent experience, especially in Latin America and other developing countries, suggests that progressive taxation and rising public...

-The Economic Times The Centre has asked states to introduce millets in mid-day meal schemes in schools to boost demand for the nutritious grain, but experts say the move would also ease pressure on food stocks as rice output is expected to decline this year and the food security legislation would require an additional 63 million tonnes of grain. The government expects a 9% fall in this year's output of rice,...