The worse off the poor become, the healthier our Ministers get. Air India might not be doing as well we'd like it to. But the braveheart who flew it fearlessly into dense clouds of debt is doing okay. Praful Patel (who no longer holds the aviation portfolio) added, on average, over half a million rupees every day to his assets in 28 months between May 2009 and August 2011. This might...
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Is Rs. 25 all that you need for a day? by Gargi Parsai
In a startling affidavit before the Supreme Court, the Planning Commission has said an individual income of just Rs. 25 a day constitutes adequate “private expenditure on food, education and health.” The affidavit, submitted on Tuesday, bases its assertion on the findings of the Suresh Tendulkar Committee, which pegged the poverty line at Rs. 447 a month, or about Rs. 15 a day, at 2004-2005 prices. Experts reacted with dismay to the...
More »40.74 crore people below poverty line, apex court told
-IANS The Planning Commission Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the below poverty line (BPL) population in the country is 40.74 crore and the poverty line for the urban and rural areas could be provisionally placed at Rs.965 per capita per month (around Rs.32 per day) and Rs.781 per capita per month (around Rs.26 per day), respectively. The Planning Commission in an affidavit said that the BPL population at present touched by...
More »India: Half a dollar a day 'adequate', says panel
-BBC India's main planning body has said half a dollar a day is "adequate" for a villager to spend on food, education and health. Critics say that the amount fixed by the Planning Commission is extremely low and aimed at "artificially" reducing the number of poor who are entitled to state benefits. There are various estimates on the exact number of poor in India. Officially, 37% of India's 1.21bn people live below the poverty...
More »Targeting Dalits by S Dorairaj
The police action against Dalits in Paramakudi leaves indelible scars on the psyche of the oppressed people all over Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu Police, in its modern avatar, reflects a glorious tradition of over a century and a half. It was the only force to embark on State-sponsored modernisation in the early 1990s which was pioneered by me during my first tenure as Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996....
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