-The Hindu With grocers and cold storage owners refusing to accept scrapped currency notes, farmers are struggling to get potato seeds while landless labourers are forced to forgo their food. Chitra Bag and her family of six are eating less these days. They make do with one meal instead of the usual three meals, despite a gruelling 8-10 hours of work daily as landless farm labourers. Even though vegetables, grown around their...
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Rural distress -TK Rajalakshmi
-Frontline.in To rural India, which is already reeling under multiple crises, demonetisation has come as yet another blow. WHEN the Prime Minister made the decision to withdraw Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes, he did not quite factor in the impact it would have on agriculture. Despite the rhetoric the concept of digital wallets has not yet entered rural India unlike in much of the country’s urban areas, and much of rural and...
More »Bringing PDS out of the abyss -Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri
-Deccan Herald System overhaul: Transparency measures with strong accountability mechanisms can usher in change The National food Security Act (NFSA) passed in 2013 gives statutory backing to the Public Distribution System (PDS). Up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population is entitled to receive food grain under the Act. Beneficiaries are categorised into priority households, entitled to 5 kg of subsidised grains per person per month, and Antyodaya...
More »With no jobs, hungry daily wagers turn to langar halls -Damini Nath
-The Hindu Since November 9, a day after the Centre banned Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes, the Sis Ganj Gurdwara has seen hectic rush during lunch About 500 kg of dal, 600 kg of vegetables and one tonne of rice is what it takes to feed thousands of people at the Sis Ganj Gurdwara in Chandni Chowk on an average day. The langar or community kitchen at the popular gurdwara has always been busy,...
More »The widening class divide -Tanu Kulkarni
-The Hindu Children from the RTE quota are often left feeling small as equality seems to be lost in monetary disparity Thirty-two-year-old Uma Devi (name changed) is conspicuous in a crowd of parents who have come to pick their children up in swanky cars. She works as a Group D employee at a government hospital, but thanks to the 25 per cent reservation quota mandated by the Right to Education (RTE) Act,...
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