In the season of draft Bills, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has come out with its draft of the National Food Security Act, 2011, that gives legal backing to the highly leaky PDS system, thereby excluding innovative options like cash transfers, which may have included variants like food stamps and UID-linked smart cards. Despite the PM’s panel objecting to universal legal entitlement, the draft says that “not less than 90%...

The concept of “a ubiquitous magic plastic” that bring out the unique in a living person has caught the fascination of most of us. An unpopular government sees in it the ability of cutting a long red tape short to correctly identify the genuine citizens in need. The agonised cops of India see in it a great ally to apprehend the much-wanted terrorists, whose biometric data could now be verified...

-The Business Standard   The United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-Posco outfit active in the project site of the South Korean steel major in Orissa, has formed a core committee to hold discussion with the revenue divisional commissioner (RDC), Central range, on its long pending demands related to the project. The discussion is scheduled for tomorrow and is expected to revolve around UAC’s six prominent demands regarding higher compensation to the project...

The current perception that cash transfers can replace public provision of basic goods and services and become a catch-all solution for poverty reduction is false. Where cash transfers have helped to reduce poverty, they have added to public provision, not replaced it. For crucial items like food, direct provision protects poor consumers from rising prices and is part of a broader strategy to ensure domestic supply. Problems like targeting errors...

Allegation that Ansari was killed by Naxalites is a ploy: report NEW DELHI: Debunking claims of the Jharkhand government, the Union Ministry of Rural Development has called for a CBI inquiry into the murder of whistle-blower Niyamat Ansari charging that there was an attempt to cover up the murder. It called for “serious action” against Latehar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rahul Purwar for alleged dereliction of duty and failure to prevent funds...