-The Hindu A campaign launched by a community service institution to make selected villages in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan shed the below poverty line (BPL) tag has immensely benefited the poor families in the region and facilitated creation of new employment opportunities, small entrepreneurships and income-generating ventures. The youth and women are especially getting involved in new enterprises in large numbers. Kheria Purohit village in Deeg tehsil of Bharatpur district, where 15...

-The Financial Express As the Centre braces for an expanded distribution of grain among the poor under the national food security law, here’s a sobering thought. According to the latest official data, various state governments have failed to utilise even the grain allocated under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). During the last three fiscal years, states have not been able to take the full delivery of grain — mostly rice and...

-The Hindu An anthology of independent evaluations of MGNREGA shows that it has provided income security, improved health, narrowed the gender gap and created useful assets   In the midst of the debates that prevail in this country over the feasibility of the world’s largest public works programme, the MGNREGA Sameeksha — an anthology of independent research studies and analysis on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, from 2006-2012 — is...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court has said it wants to end judicial monitoring of social welfare schemes, saying the task should be left to experts and courts “can’t be setting economic policy”. The court had earlier taken umbrage at the government for fixing the poverty line at a measly Rs 32 per day per person in urban areas and suggested free distribution of foodgrain, causing consternation in the government which felt that...

-The Telegraph The state government is trying to work out a health insurance scheme to cover 10 lakh families living below the poverty line who do not benefit from the Centre’s Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY). At present about 25 lakh BPL families qualify for benefits under the central scheme while there are more than 35 lakh BPL families in the state according to a survey conducted a couple of years ago. The...