The approach paper for the 12th Five-Year Plan with focus on faster, sustained and inclusive growth is candid and forward-looking. On poverty reduction, the document notes, without comment, the annual trend decline of 0.8% accelerating to 1% during 2004-05 to 2009-10, against a promised target of 2% in the 11th Plan. It emphasises that India will easily meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty by 2015, over 25...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Food Security Bill: Simpler the Better
-EPW The draft Food Bill is in a mess; a simple solution is available to make it an effective legislation. The union cabinet’s inability to clear the National Food Security Bill (NFSB) on 13 December is both a concern and an opportunity. It is a concern because every passing day is a chance lost to bring hunger to an end. It is an opportunity because the Bill is in dire need...
More »Dash under ‘duress’ for Lokpal by Sanjay K Jha
The government’s desperate race to redraft the Lokpal bill in time for passage this Parliament session has left political circles uneasy, with even some Opposition leaders conceding the dangers of lawmaking under such abnormal pressure. The Centre too is squirming at this “indecent haste”, prompted by its keenness to avoid another face-off with Team Anna. But it feels it has little choice in a political climate where “confrontationism” is giving the...
More »It's a travesty of food security, says CPI(M) by Gargi Parsai
Bill will come up for discussion in the Cabinet on Monday, says K.V. Thomas Even as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday said the proposed National Food Security Bill was “unacceptable,” Minister of State for Food K.V. Thomas indicated that legislation was coming up for discussion in the Cabinet on Monday. The CPI(M) has demanded the removal of the linking of entitlements to reforms in the public distribution system from...
More »Negative Impact
-The Telegraph New laws are often brought in without assessing their judicial and financial impact. The result is poor implementation, says Seetha Call it collateral damage. According to newspaper reports, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has written to the Prime Minister asking for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to be put on hold during the peak season of agricultural operations. With a guaranteed income of Rs 100 a day for at...
More »