Good politics and good economics can make compatible bedfellows, if the timing is right. Food, its producers and consumers, are now the Centre's most potent political and economic battleground. Politically speaking, this could be the best time for the UPA to reclaim its dog-eared pro-people credentials through the Bill. The Right to Food Bill has triggered many apprehensions, including fears of a higher subsidy burden, an adverse impact on private...

-PTI   The government is likely to give a legal right to food to both priority and general categories of the population under the proposed National Food Security Act, as suggested by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC). There were differences between the NAC and the Rangarajan Committee on giving a legal right to food to general category, or above poverty line (APL) families. While the NAC had suggested giving a legal...

-The Hindu   “Surveys leading to move are misleading, towing a pre-planned agenda” Opposing the Delhi Government's move to extend a pilot project in the Capital for providing cash subsidies in place of subsidised foodgrains for the needy, a group of non-government organisations led by social activist Arvind Kejriwal has said the decision is “questionable” and that the surveys conducted ahead of the project's implementation were “misleading”. One of these surveys conducted by...

-The Hindustan Times   A number of NGOs have opposed the Delhi government's proposal of giving Rs 1,000 cash per family per month instead of subsidised foodgrains under the Public Distribution System (PDS). A pilot project for approximately 100 families is being run in Raghubir Nagar in west Delhi wherein instead of the subsidised grain, the government is doling out Rs 1,000 in cash. NGOs working with poor people, however, are aghast...

The Planning Commission’s definition of poverty is inexplicable In the urban sprawl that is Delhi, as in any other metro in the country, earning no more than Rs 25 per day with a family to support would prove nightmarish. Food and clothes have to be bought, there may be school-going children, colds, fevers or upset stomachs to get treated, someone with a chronic problem needing long-term treatment. Surely, someone living...