-The Economic Times Any estimate of poverty, more correctly of the poverty line that determines how many Indians live in poverty, is bound to be contentious. It is naive to believe that any estimate, whatever its methodology, will find unanimous acceptance.  Hence the decision to appoint yet another technical committee to estimate the poverty line will not achieve anything. It will merely buy the government time and deflect some of the criticism...

The Budget provides proof of the United Progressive Alliance government having forgotten the importance of its own “flagship schemes”. BUDGET 2012-13 provides conclusive proof that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has lost its way. It has managed the remarkable feat of upsetting almost everyone and making no one happy. The Budget is highly regressive in both taxation and spending terms and will raise prices of essentials, so aam aurat and...

One man’s fiscal problem is another man’s lifeline. Trigger happy bureaucrats and economists may love shooting down subsidies because it bloats the fiscal deficit and burdens the government but the simple fact is that in a one billion strong nation, in which nearly one in every three live below the poverty line, one needs an effective and efficient method through which privileged tax payers can support the poor. Last week, finance...

-The Economic Times Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Tuesday blamed faulty data provided by NSSO for the low poverty threshold in the country. The poverty line for 2009-10 has been pegged at Rs 29 per day per capita expenditure for urban population and at Rs 22 per day per person for rural population, which has invited widespread criticism. NSSO could be severely understating national consumption expenditure, Ahluwalia said. “Earlier, the NSSO...

Taking cognizance of the report published by The Hindu on Monday indicating low Muslim representation in this year's admission to nursery classes in Delhi's private schools, the National Commission for Minorities has said that it will urgently look into the matter and take action. National Commission for Minorities chairman Wajahat Habibullah said: “We have got a copy of the letter submitted to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on the issue and...