A spoon, 25 grams of dal, half a slice of bread, some washing powder and a torn piece of kurta, in total worth Rs 20. That is what three key National Advisory Council members -- Jean Dreze, Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander -- brought for the deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday protesting against the Rs 20 per day person expenditure poverty line it has decided...

Pawar said the excess wheat is not to be opened for export until it is assessed how much grain will be needed for Distribution under the National Food Security bill Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar Monday said the government will take a final view on lifting the export ban on wheat and non-basmati rice after assessing foodgrains requirement under the proposed National Food Security Act. Last month, Pawar had said that the government...

-The Business Standard   A group of activists led by Arvind Kejriwal today raised questions about Delhi government's move to provide cash instead of subsidised foodgrains for the poor, suspecting that the survey conducted ahead of the rolling out of the project was not genuine. "Why is Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit taking so much interest in the scheme? Why is she hell bent upon closing down PDS shops? Is the Chief Minister...

-The Indian Express   Indian government uses public funds to alleviate, prevent and end poverty; but, unarguably, does so inefficiently. A new report from the World Bank for the Planning Commission on India’s “social protection” programmes outlines the scope of the failure and provides a few answers. Those programmes can be divided into three kinds, the report argues: those that prevent a slide into poverty, like social security and insurance schemes; those...

Various civil society groups and NGOs Thursday came together to oppose the Delhi government’s plan to give cash instead of ration to the city’s poor through the Public Distribution System (PDS). The activists said the government had taken the decision in haste. ‘We had gone to meet (Chief Minister) Sheila Dikshit yesterday, but she did not listen to us at all. Instead, she screamed at us and threatened to put us in...