-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Conditional cash transfer instead of providing grains at subsidized rates to the poor under the Food Security Act can save at least Rs 30,000 crore annually, said Shanta Kumar, chairman of a panel set up to revamp the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI). Kumar said linking cash transfer to conditions such as constructing toilets was one of the several options being considered to ensure every...
More »SEARCH RESULT
The failure of the Indian imagination -Gautam Bhatia
-The Hindu The failure of Narendra Modi's infrastructure plan reflects the larger failure of the Indian imagination, a mindless enumeration of ideas that have little or no bearing on Indian reality. When much of what is built is a half-baked imitation of disparate items tried and tested elsewhere, it becomes hard to fault Mr. Modi. If the recent image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi swinging on the jhula with Chinese President Xi...
More »The Killer Roads Of Assam -Ratnadip Choudhury
-Tehelka Why is the northeastern state witnessing a spurt in fatal road accidents? On 26 October, 37 people from Lakhimpur district of Assam boarded an Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) bus for a 390-km overnight journey to Guwahati. Most of them were part of a group that was planning to catch a train for Lucknow from Guwahati the next day and would have later proceeded to Varanasi, Mathura and Vrindavan on a...
More »India’s draft road safety bill focuses more on penalty and technology -Ruchita Bansal
-Down to Earth Death and injury prevention get little attention To address the problem of road safety, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has published a draft Road Transport and Safety Bill for public comments and suggestions. If passed by Parliament, it would replace the existing Motor Vehicles Act of 1988. While the bill should be aiming for zero mortality, it has set a target to save 200,000 lives in...
More »NC Saxena, Former secretary-Rural Development Ministry and former member of the NAC, interviewed by Aditi Phadnis
-The Business Standard NC Saxena, a former member of the National Advisory Council believes that the regulatory regime in the states continues to be oppressive. In an e-mailed interview with Aditi Phadnis, Saxena says that the fundamental problem in India is the low tax-GDP ratio and neither the last government nor the current one seems interested in increasing revenues. Edited excerpts: * The new government appears to be watering down a lot...
More »