Setting a high bar for poverty in India, By Manu Joseph, July 9, 2014, New York Times: “It is not uncommon for Indians to stand in a line to receive alms from a politician as he gives away clothes, pots and laptops that would make Apple laugh. This is a custom that has survived from a time when the theater of charity was enough to make the poor feel grateful. But they have since come to regard such alms as political buffoonery and now expect substantial assistance from the government. To bring order to the public spending that subsidizes hundreds of millions of lives, and to ensure that the poorest receive what is meant for them, India is on a constant quest for a meaningful definition of poverty. . .”
Tag: India
Food Security Bill – India
- India passes massive program to feed 800 million in poverty, By Mark Magnier, September 2, 2013, Los Angeles Times: “India passed into law Monday an ambitious program to provide nearly free food to some 800 million Indians. Supporters hailed it as a long-overdue fix for the nation’s rampant poverty, while critics slammed it as a shameless and electoral ploy the country can’t afford that will encourage more waste and corruption. The National Food Security Bill gives two-thirds of India’s population the right to buy 12 pounds of rice, wheat, millet or other cereals each month at no more than 3 cents per pound. It also provides food free to pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under 6 years old…”
- India aims to ease poverty, malnutrition by expanding grain subsidies to reach 800 million, Associated Press, September 3, 2013, Washington Post: “India plans to subsidize wheat, rice and cereals for some 800 million people under a $20 billion scheme to cut malnutrition and ease poverty. The Food Security Bill, sent this week by India’s parliament to the president for approval, guarantees citizens a legal right to food…”
Cash Transfer Program – India
India aims to keep money for poor out of others’ pockets, By Gardiner Harris, January 5, 2013, New York Times: “India has more poor people than any nation on earth, but many of its antipoverty programs end up feeding the rich more than the needy. A new program hopes to change that. On Jan. 1, India eliminated a raft of bureaucratic middlemen by depositing government pension and scholarship payments directly into the bank accounts of about 245,000 people in 20 of the nation’s hundreds of districts, in a bid to prevent corrupt state and local officials from diverting much of the money to their own pockets. Hundreds of thousands more people will be added to the program in the coming months. In a country of 1.2 billion, the numbers so far are modest, but some officials and economists see the start of direct payments as revolutionary — a program intended not only to curb corruption but also to serve as a vehicle for lifting countless millions out of poverty altogether…”