-The Hindu In returning their awards, Nayantara Sahgal and Ashok Vajpeyi have reminded Modi of two duties he has neglected — that of upholding a citizen's right to life and of protecting an artist’s right to creativity. Their angst is also directed at the silence of fellow writers and literary institutions.A writer not only seeks to reform a particular injustice in society. She is a tuning fork, a warning signal about...
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SC agrees to Rs 1,300 tax on polluting trucks -Dhananjay Mahapatra
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a bid to reduce the capital's high air pollution levels, the Supreme Court on Friday said it would order levying of a pollution tax of Rs 1,300 on heavy trucks and Rs 700 on light commercial vehicles to deter the smoke-spewing vehicles from entering the city. The court said it would pronounce the order on Monday and review the pollution situation in four months. The...
More »Rural deprivation -Indira Rajaraman
-Livemint.com The problem with the SECC is the absence of cross-tabulations showing the intersections between the seven deprivation sets The original intent of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), whose findings for rural India were made public in June, was to collect information on economic and caste identifiers for access to subsidized food under the National Food Security Act of 2013, and to define a priority set with higher access and...
More »FCI stuck with 24m tonnes of poor wheat -Dipak K Dash
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is saddled with 27 million tonnes of wheat. Since 90% of grain procured this year were under relaxed norms, these stocks have a shorter shelf life and must be used in 8 to 10 months. FCI, sources said, is releasing these stocks to the public distribution system (PDS). This grain is shrivelled, broken and lacks lustre and the challenge is...
More »Cash for Food--A Misplaced Idea -Dipa Sinha
-Economic and Political Weekly Direct benefi t transfers in the form of cash cannot replace the supply of food through the public distribution system. Though it is claimed otherwise, DBT does not address the problems of identifying the poor ("targeting") and DBT in place of the PDS will expose the vulnerable to additional price fluctuation. Further, if the PDS is dismantled, there will also be no need or incentive for procurement...
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