-Live Mint The mid-day scheme is underpinned by a rent-seeking chain that keeps all the major stakeholders satisfied The mid-day meal (MDM) tragedy in Chhapra once again focuses attention on the low-level equilibrium that our public systems are trapped in. Consider these facts. Apart from rice, which has to be collected from the local ration shop, the MDM programme allocates each primary and upper-primary child Rs3.11 and Rs4.65, respectively to purchase pulses,...
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The capable state -Gulzar Natarajan
-The Indian Express No magic pill solution or quick fix can make up for basic administrative deficiencies In a review of Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen's latest book in the Financial Times (July 12, 2013), historian Ramachandra Guha questions whether the Indian state is "up to the job of doing more to tackle poverty". Mainstream debates about the persistence of poverty and pervasive failures in public service delivery in India tend to...
More »Food price rise pushes demand for pre-cooked, ready-to-eat food items-Mahesh Kulkarni
-The Business Standard Fear of bad monsoon has suddenly hiked vegetable and fruit prices by about 300% from the farm to your dining table Bangalore: Steep rise in prices of fruits and vegetables has resulted in over 55% of middle and low-income group families opting for pre-cooked and ready-to-eat food items to keep the kitchen budget intact, according to a survey. "The fear of bad monsoon has suddenly hiked the vegetables...
More »More women die of burns than men in India, says study -Aarti Dhar
-The Hindu The number of cases of burns among women is unusually higher in India with the proportion being undisputedly more in women married for less than 10 years, a latest study has shown. The pattern of burns in India is unusual in two senses. First, deaths from burning are more common among women than men, and second, burns are a well-known means of female suicide or homicide, the study suggests, describing...
More »Fuel for food-Keya Acharya
-The Hindu Switching to renewable energy sources in the country's midday meal programme will save millions of rupees. But only a few kitchens are doing anything about it, says the author. This is a story of facts and figures and sheer size. Of an auditorium-sized room dense with hot steam from cooking. Of seven tonnes of cooked rice and four tanker-loads of steaming sambar that needed 70 pairs of hands for cutting...
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