THE government seems to be considering a new system to replace the present system of targeted public distribution system (TPDS) with food coupons or direct cash transfer. The ills that plague the present TPDS are well-known and well-documented. The two national surveys, one by Programme Evaluation Organisation of the Planning Commission and the other by ORG-Marg, both at the instance of the Union government, have identified the major problem areas...

Despite numerous special schemes and financial allocations, tribal communities in Hunsur taluk lead a life of poverty, marked by severe malnutrition. In Bettada haadi in the taluk, tribal residents grapple with appalling health conditions. Eight people in 28 families have tuberculosis, five have died in the past six years, and many others are malnourished and anaemic. They live in dilapidated houses that lack sanitation. Defunct borewells, broken pipes and non-functional streetlights...

The cynics have a hierarchy on facts — lies, damned lies and statistics! But, modern economies live on numbers and economists love numbers. So, one must be deferential towards statisticians and statistics. Even so, India’s poverty numbers and their repeated re-engineering test one’s patience. It is possible to imagine that there would be as many estimates of poverty in India as there are estimates of it. So, one should not...

Various estimates of the extra cost to the government for an improved food security Bill are doing the rounds, but many agree the Union government’s proposed food subsidy bill would double. The proposed Bill offers 25 kg per family per month at Rs 3 a kg, to only families below the poverty line, or about 84 million households. Activists are insisting this be raised to 35 kg a family and to...

The Central Vigilance Committee on Public Distribution System (PDS) headed by Justice (rtd) DP Wadhwa has come down heavily on the Public Districution Syetem in its recently submitted report. The committee has ruled that the whole system of procurement and distribution of food grains is built on corruption and its benefits to the poor are low. His prescription: Innovative methods to improve the system. "The whole system has to be...