-The Times of India JAWAJA (AJMER): The complaints, like always, were many. But the tables had been turned. At the receiving end were government officers as people crowded around demanding an explanation for being denied their right. It was their day of hearing. A motley group of villagers thrust 'pink slips' towards the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) demanding to know why they were being denied the Re 1 a kg wheat promised by...
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A case of misplaced euphoria -Vani S Kulkarni and Raghav Gaiha
-The Hindu In spite of the rosy picture painted by the World Bank, the prospect of eliminating extreme poverty remains distant In a protracted period of gloom and persistent recession with feeble signs of recovery in a large part of the developed world, the World Bank, Brookings Institution and others can be forgiven for their euphoria over the accomplishment of a key Millennium Development Goal (MDG) - of halving extreme poverty in...
More »What we need is not a food security Bill but a hunger elimination Act -Arvind Virmani
-The Times of India In the decade or so that i was at the Planning Commission, i always had advisory responsibility for the food ministry/public distribution system, among other issues of development policy. It did not take very long to find out that the fundamental problem with the system was about so-called "leakages" abetted by corruption: One soon learnt that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was one of the most...
More »A website that explains why women can touch a bottle of pickle on all days -Kim Arora
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Don't enter the kitchen. Don't wash your hair. Don't touch that bottle of pickle. Improvements in level of education and age notwithstanding, many Indian women still end up imposing these and several other restrictions on themselves every month. The belief that the menstrual cycle renders them impure is the root cause behind such impositions. Three young entrepreneurs are now working to bring out a comic...
More »For the people, by the people-Neha Khator
-The Hindu Neha Khator narrates the story of an NGO that transformed a backward village into a bustling city, with funds, of course, but also by fostering a sense of duty in its residents. Vimla Kanwar, a 70-year-old widow, had a problem. After her husband, a handloom yarn spinner, died of cancer, the officials at the Khadi Gram Udyog took away his charkha. Concerned about finding a means of survival at her...
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