Two recent reports show that this social sector scheme has had a causal impact in improving lives, especially for women and children Fourteen million people escaped falling into poverty under the world’s largest anti-poverty programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). In 10 years of its existence, the scheme reduced poverty by 32 per cent. Recent data also shows that more women are drawing cash incomes, more children...
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IMD’s monsoon forecast -Anil Padmanabhan
-Livemint.com With barely weeks left for the to begin its retreat, it is emerging that India will close the year with a deficit much higher than what was initially forecast Another year and another bad monsoon. What were the odds? The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast this year’s monsoon—like last year—to be below normal. At that time, we all hoped that the IMD had got it wrong—the economy was on the...
More »Thought For Food -Jean Dreze & Reetika Khera
-Outlook Even the worst-governed states can improve their PDS and ensure grain for the poorest. Look at Madhya Pradesh. THE National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, is not in very good health. Two years after it came into force, just a few states are implementing it. Others are still struggling with the identification of eligible households, public distribution system (PDS) reforms and other preparations. Yet, recent evidence suggests that some states...
More »Monsoon deficit at 10%; Met Dept sees situation worsening this month -Vinson Kurian
-The Hindu Business Line THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The overall monsoon deficit for the country as a whole is in double digits for the first time this season, and forecasts suggest it may worsen during the rest of August. India Met Department assessed the deficit at 10 per cent with the worst-hit South topping a list of three geographical regions with 20 per cent. The other deficits are reported from East and North-East India (-12...
More »The significance of local power structures in Bihar’s coupon-based PDS -Chetan Choithani & Bill Pritchard
-Ideas for India In 2007, Bihar introduced the coupon system in PDS to curb leakages at fair price shops. This column argues that even though the administrative logic of the coupon system is fundamentally sound, such reform can be effective only when accompanied by institutional transformations that broker change in the existing local politics of inclusion and exclusion. The performance of Bihar’s public distribution system (PDS) remains a topic of considerable national...
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