The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) on Wednesday moved a step closer to introducing its ambitious food security legislation after the coalition’s political leadership agreed to restrict the proposed universal public distribution system (PDS) to the poorest of the poor in the initial phase. Members of the National Advisory Council, or NAC, which serves as the political interface between the government and the Congress party and is chaired by Congress president...

The 1,600 families in Haryana’s Panchkula district which line up at fair price shops for foodgrains and kerosene can do away with their prized ration cards, pieces of paper that entitle the poor to subsidized food and fuel. Beginning Tuesday, while they still have to queue up, these families will receive their rations after a biometric identification using smart cards. That’s a small beginning for an ambitious Rs138 crore Centrally funded project...

Acute poverty prevails in eight Indian states, a new ‘multidimensional’ measure of global poverty has said. The measure claims that the eight states put together account for more poor people than those present in the 26 poorest African nations combined. The new measure, called the Multidimensional poverty Index (MPI), was developed and applied by the Oxford poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) with the United Nation Development Programme’s (UNDP) support. It...

Eight Indian states account for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African countries combined, a new measure of global poverty has found. The Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, have 421 million "poor" people, the study found. This is more than the 410 million poor in the poorest African countries, it said. The Multidimensional poverty Index (MPI) measures a range of "deprivations" at household levels. Developed by Oxford poverty...

Ultimately, the answer lies in increasing farm production and productivity The Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, C. Rangarajan, on Tuesday suggested that people Above the poverty Line (APL) could be considered for the mandatory food security scheme by limiting the subsidised foodgrains entitlement of Below the poverty line (BPL) beneficiaries to 30 kg per month per family (instead of 35 kg). “An alternative is to give the...