The Supreme Court today acknowledged that the income ceilings to get BPL ration cards was “very low”, but appeared to suggest it was for the government to raise the limit to realistic levels. “Nobody can dispute the fact that the problem is enormous. Given the fact that the purchasing power of money is so low, even if a family’s daily income is Rs 30 or Rs 40, they should get BPL...
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Food Bill | How 3 pages changed govt approach by Samar Halarnkar
The government’s effort to draft a seminal law to fight hunger is flawed, inadequate, opaque and “not in the spirit of the election promises” in the Congress manifesto, says a confidential note circulated to top ministers at a late-evening meeting on Monday. The three-page note—a copy of which is with the Hindustan Times—came from the office of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and was handed to the select empowered group of ministers...
More »Poor families may get right to 35 kg foodgrains a month
A ministers' panel meeting tomorrow is likely to consider raising poor families' entitlement for rice or wheat to 35 kg per month at Rs 3 a kg. The Empowered Group of Ministers of Food, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, earlier on March 18 cleared the Food Security Bill, which provided poor families right to 25 kg of the foodgrain in a month . The EGoM is revisiting the bill, the ambitious...
More »India's children have a precarious right by Krishna Kumar
One hardly needs a reminder that the Right to Education is different from the others enshrined in the Constitution, in that the beneficiary cannot demand it nor fight a legal battle when the right is denied or violated. Now that India's children have a right to receive at least eight years of education, the gnawing question is whether it will remain on paper or become a reality. One hardly needs...
More »Final draft Bill denies food security as a right by Anil Padmanabhan and Liz Mathew
The draft food security legislation readied for cabinet’s approval is much narrower in scope than what was initially envisaged and, hence, stops short of assuring an entitlement as had been previously pledged. The final draft Bill which has been approved by the empowered group of ministers (eGoM) and reviewed by Mint restricts coverage only to poor citizens, confines it to the supply of 25kg of wheat and rice, does not lock...
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