-The Times of India   Faced with fierce criticism over the Planning Commission’s new criteria for poverty line, the Government has asked the Plan panel to revise its affidavit. The Planning Commission had said that that those spending more than Rs. 32 a day in urban areas, or Rs. 26 a day in villages, would no longer be eligible to draw benefits meant for those living below the poverty line. The new tentative...

The acronym LPG has several expansions. It stands for liquefied petroleum gas. It stands for liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, a term of abuse used by those with Leftwing persuasions. It stands for life plundered by the government, sentiments associated with those who are against state intervention, but increasingly felt by the so-called middle class - however defined - because of price hikes, and proposed price hikes, for petroleum products. Ostensibly, price...

-BBC   India's main planning body has said half a dollar a day is "adequate" for a villager to spend on food, education and health. Critics say that the amount fixed by the Planning Commission is extremely low and aimed at "artificially" reducing the number of poor who are entitled to state benefits. There are various estimates on the exact number of poor in India. Officially, 37% of India's 1.21bn people live below the poverty...

-The Hindu   Nothing is more reflective of the confusion and mix-up of priorities of the United Progressive Alliance government than the mismanagement of fuel pricing. While struggling to control inflation through monetary policy, the government sees no problem in allowing oil marketing companies to continually raise the price of petrol. The latest hike, by more than Rs.3 a litre, comes on top of the two substantial increases earlier this year. Although...

Managing our soil and water resources in a sustainable and equitable manner needs a new political vision, which can be expressed through the proposed Land Acquisition Bill and the recently formed Global Soil Partnership. On the basis of a proposal I had made three years ago, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) launched a Global Soil Partnership for Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation at a multi-stakeholder conference, held...