The draft Food Security Bill makes it compulsory for state governments to pay a food security allowance to targeted sections in case of failure to supply foodgrain through a sweeping welfare scheme targeted at nearly three-fourths of the population. The amount will be decided by the central government. The draft bill also presses for a radical overhaul of the food distribution system by giving incentives to independent agencies that procure...

In a radical departure from official welfare norms, the draft Food Security Bill has made adult women heads of households selected for distribution of subsidised food grain. This highly unusual move for general welfare schemes wasn't part of the original discussions on the food bill. The bill has shaped into the big daddy, or in this case the big mummy, of all welfare schemes by providing free food to pregnant...

Generates 83.83 lakh man-days during 2010-11 as against budget for 78.46 lakh Chandigarh: Haryana has generated 83.83 lakh man-days during 2010-11 as against the approved budget for 78.46 lakh man-days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The information was given at a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries on Rural Development chaired by State Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati here on Friday. Ms. Gulati said that of the total man-days...

It would be sad if the potential of cash transfers was lost as a result of hasty posturing by those on various sides of the debate. The fact is that, in India today, poverty and economic insecurity remain endemic in spite of fantastic economic growth. The existing system has failed to arrest the growing number in poverty, despite substantial government spending ostensibly designed to reduce poverty. Could cash transfers help? A...

-Outlook   Eight police personnel were held hostage by a group of villagers opposing the Rs 52,000 crore Posco steel plant for nearly five hours today before being set free in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district. Seven policemen and the driver of police jeep which entered Patana village in Dhinkia panchayat were stopped by villagers, mostly women and were held captive, Additional Superintendent of Police Shantanu Das told reporters. The policemen and the driver were...