Social protection has seen a sharp focus in the development policy agenda during the past decade. There is also a clear trend for making social protection, as well as food security, “rights-based”, rather than “discretionary”. Yet, no clear consensus has so far emerged concerning many basic design choices and implementation modalities. The Food Security Act 2011, which is now under the consideration of our parliament, is designed to achieve the...

A narrow education is making engineers oblivious to the importance of human interaction and raising the cost of even simple tasks My time in South Asia has rewarded me with an enigma: why is engineering so expensive here? Why is it often many times more expensive than in Australia, my home? My search for answers led me to shanty towns on the fringes of mega-cities. We compared an award winning Indian factory...

An exhibition of paintings by local artists as a tribute to M.F. Husain on his first death anniversary was cancelled in Pune, following opposition from right-wing outfit Hindu Jan Jagriti Samiti (HJJS). On June 8, Shivaji Vatkar of the HJJS wrote to organiser and gallery curator Raju Sutar, claiming that Husain had “hurt the religious and national sentiments of crores of Hindus and Indians through his blasphemous paintings of Hindu deities...

-The Hindu In yet another move to curb wasteful expenditure after launching an austerity drive in Ministries, Central departments as also autonomous bodies, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday pitched for streamlining the delivery mechanism for distributing subsidised commodities such as food ration, cooking gas and all other targeted government schemes for the ‘Aadhaar' platform. In a letter to Chief Ministers of 16 States and Union territories, Mr. Mukherjee said: “...given the...

-IANS West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday conceded that there were 'debt-ridden peasants who contemplated committing suicides'. 'There are many farmers who take loans from money lenders at high interest and when they are unable to repay the money, they contemplate suicide. Do not give up life like that, life is most valuable,' said Banerjee, after giving Kisan Credit Cards to farmers here in the South 24-Parganas district, about 150 km...