The fracas over R32 per day was amusing and sad. Obviously, none of the journalists and politicians had known that the level used to be even lower in previous years. In 2004-05, the level was R552 per person per month for an urban person and R363 for rural. So, that is about R17.5 (R12) per day. The stylised anger only revealed that India’s elite may protest about poverty but they...
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Holding government to account by Wajahat Habibullah
As the Right to Information Act (RTI) celebrated the sixth year of its coming, there has been much heated discussion, often emotional, of the benefits that it has brought and also the challenges with which it has confronted government. This debate came to a head with the prime minister’s inaugural address to the Annual Convention of the Central Information Commission on October 14. It is accepted in all circles that the...
More »Reduce Inequalities to Boost Health, WHO Says by Fabíola Ortiz
Economic status, education, access to clean water and sanitation, nutrition and the environment determine the level of health of persons, communities or countries, and so does the extent to which rights are enjoyed or denied. The World Conference on Social Determinants of Health, held Oct. 19-21 in Brazil, defined 15 commitments that should be undertaken by governments, international organisations, the private sector and civil society. The final document, the Rio Political Declaration...
More »No displacement, resettle slum dwellers where they live: NAC by Smita Gupta
At a time that land in urban centres, especially in the big metropolitan cities, is at a premium, a Working Group of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) has suggested that, as far as possible, slum dwellers should be resettled at the spot where they are currently living, rather than displacing them, so that they continue to remain close to their places of work. NAC sources said the Working...
More »UID project hits job plan roadblock by Chetan Chauhan
Nandan Nilekani led Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has hit a Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) roadblock. The government had refused to make unique number or Aadhaar mandatory for making wage payment to people enrolled under the world’s largest social security scheme unless all residents are covered. The reason given was that MGNREGA is a universal scheme and anyone can demand work. Unless all resident in a district have...
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