-The Hindu   ‘Panel's affidavit skirted main issues of why should there be poverty line that determines BPL “caps” and to re-consider poverty line' The Right to Food Campaign on Thursday asked the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to explain how the per capita poverty line expenditure of Rs. 25 per day in rural and Rs. 32 per day in urban area could be normatively ‘adequate' as the panel had claimed...

-The Times of India   Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander, members of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, have joined Right to Food campaigners in demanding that Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia withdraw the poverty line affidavit filed by the panel before the Supreme Court or resign. In an open letter by the two prominent members of the UPA think-tank National Advisory Council in their capacity as members of the Right...

The state's rice bowl is left empty An unviable minimum support price (MSP) for rice has forced farmers in Andhra Pradesh to leave their lands fallow. The movement is spreading to other states. “Farming never pays” is a familiar slogan among agriculturists across the world, and especially so in India. Nevertheless, many continue to cultivate their fields year after year, barely eking out an existence, toiling in the hope that the tide...

-The Pioneer   The Government may go for a comparative study of RTI in different countries in order to check its misuse. The Government will table Public Procurement Policy Bill and a Bill on electoral reforms to check corruption in the public arena. “Undoubtedly, RTI is being misused…Even judges feel that it is hampering the work of courts in matters of decisions and appointments of judges…We can have comparative study on it,” said...

A rural scientist, Mangal Singh, has received a patent for an innovation (Mangal Turbine) which can save billions of rupees worth diesel and electricity currently used up for irrigation. Despite the recognition of his work by eminent experts and officials, this scientist has been subjected to relentless harassment by a handful of bureaucrats. A recent evaluation of his work ordered by the Department of Rural Department has indicted these bureaucrats...