Quite opposite to the top-down model of budgeting, the newly elected Aam Aadmi Party-led Government in Delhi has decided to go for a 'citizen-centric' budget planning at 'mohalla'-level for the fiscal year 2015-16. Drawing lessons from the success stories of participatory budgeting conducted at municipal-level in cities like Porto Alegre (Brazil), the AAP-led Delhi Government has decided to launch this form of decentralized budgeting on a pilot basis in a...
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Food insecurity and statistical fog -Jean Drèze
-The Hindu The implementation of the National Food Security Act is mired in apathy and confusion. A grave injustice is being done to millions of people who live on the margin of subsistence. It is not too late to remove the roadblocks, but this requires a sense of urgency An odd silence has surrounded the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in the last few months - as if food insecurity were a...
More »NDA govt moves on food subsidy rationalization after Delhi debacle -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com Cash transfer of PDS benefits would mean limiting MSP operations New Delhi: Undeterred by the humiliating defeat inflicted on it by the populist Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi state assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP-led) government is pressing ahead with efforts to reduce its bill on food subsidies. Please click here to read more. ...
More »Changing landscape -Jitendra
-Down to Earth Land devoted to non-agricultural use has increased three-fold since Independence. It is set to increase further and faster, according to this article extracted from the latest State of India's Environment report, published by Down To Earth and Centre for Science and Environment In 2014, India was expected to bring down widespread land conflicts. This is because the country got a new land acquisition law in November 2013 after more...
More »Enhancing PESA: The Unfinished Agenda -Kamal Nayan Choubey
-Economic and Political Weekly Amendments proposed by the previous Congress-led union government to the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 had the potential of improving upon this progressive legislation. Unfortunately, with its successor pursuing different priorities, the possibility of the amendments being passed remains rather low. Kamal Nayan Choubey (kamalnayanchoubey@gmail.com) is with the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. A bill for an amendment to the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas)...
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