-The Business Standard Yogender Alagh who headed first ever task force on poverty line in 1978 is dismissive of present methodology devised by Suresh Tendulkar The Planning Commission has issued poverty estimates based on the Suresh Tendulkar methodology, while admitting it was not taking this seriously. Which is also what quite a few statisticians feel about these estimates, including the man regarded as the father of India's first official poverty line...

-The Business Standard 7 things you should know in the Bhagwati vs Sen slugfest Jagdish Bhagwati and Amartya Sen are the two Indian economists who are most respected for their work. Both have worked on a broad spectrum of issues, though Sen is best known for his work on public choice and development and Bhagwati for his work on trade. They are both liberal, neoclassical economists, who support deregulation and disapprove of...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: Assam will implement the UPA government's National Food security scheme from November 19, chief minister Tarun Gogoi said today. The much-hyped National Food security Ordinance, which is expected to be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament, will ensure access to quality food by all people in the country, especially those in the BPL category. Gogoi told reporters here that a group of ministers (GoM) has already been constituted to...

-Live Mint We need to further strengthen and resource the mid-day meal scheme, and not consider its curtailment or dilution The bone-chilling tragedy of 22 children dying in Chhapra in rural Bihar after having their mid-day meal at a government school has rightly shaken the public conscience. But we should resist the temptation of simplistic knee-jerk conclusions, or from attributing blame to the local officials alone or to the state administration....

-The Business Standard The tragedy involving the death of children in a Bihar school should reinforce recent efforts to improve the programme, notes Amarjeet Sinha. The sad loss of 23 innocent lives after consuming hot cooked meals in a school in Bihar has rightly shocked and angered people. The highly poisonous pesticide monocrotophos found in children's food and a headmistress overlooking the cook and the children's protests about the oil and not...