Ahead of the upcoming elections, political parties have started announcing incentives to benefit women, but what do women truly seek for genuine gender parity, asks Nivedita Mookerji.
In the five years in politics Priyanka Gandhi has undeniably emerged as a thorn in the BJP flesh, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. It is time that this thorn is twisted a wee bit more when the elections have become far more uncertain than what it was when the Election Commission announced the poll schedule.
The Planning Commission in May 2012 had constituted the expert group under the then Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty, following an uproar over the number of poor in the country.
"Workers and businesses are facing catastrophe, in both developed and developing economies. We have to move fast, decisively, and together. The right, urgent, measures, could make the difference between survival and collapse," ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said on Tuesday. Worldwide, two billion people work in the informal sector (mostly in emerging and developing economies) and are particularly at risk, the report said, adding that the COVID-19 crisis is already affecting tens of millions of informal workers. "In India, Nigeria and Brazil, the number of workers in the informal economy affected by the lockdown and other containment measures is substantial," ILO said.
Economic liberalisation has not resulted in rapid reduction in poverty, as was expected, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
In the coming days, unless Modi tones down the communal spiel, it will be clear that anxiety continues to drive his mind and clouds his judgment, observes Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'Those who hope for a strong united Opposition are disillusioned at the way in which the INDIA alliance has already been caught in debilitating squabbles.'
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan will inspire terrorists and trigger an "explosion" of extremism and security challenges for the world, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warned on Thursday.
The top UN human rights official in the country stressed that the root cause of poverty in Afghanistan was human rights violation that took the shape of patronage, corruption, impunity and opting for short-term solutions over long-term developmental goals.
'Sweden removed the inheritance tax because many of the rich were fleeing. For example, the owner of IKEA had migrated out of Sweden'
The Lok Sabha was adjourned on Wednesday following uproar over fresh poverty estimates released by the Planning Commission, which pegged the poverty line at Rs 28.65 per capita daily consumption in cities. As soon as the House met, National Democratic Alliance convener Sharad Yadav and Communist Party of India leader Prabodh Panda were on their feet, demanding suspension of the Question Hour for a discussion on the latest poverty estimates of the Planning Commission.
About 56 million Indians may have plunged into extreme poverty in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, increasing the global tally by 71 million and making it the worst year for poverty reduction since World War II, according to fresh estimates by the World Bank. "The global goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 is likely to be missed: By then, about 600 million people will remain in abject poverty. A major course correction is needed," Indermit Gill, chief economist at the World Bank, tweeted. The World Bank in its latest "Poverty and Shared Prosperity" made fresh estimates of poverty using a new extreme poverty line based on the purchasing power parity (PPP) of $2.15, the earlier one being at $1.9.
The BJP state unit hailed Vasan and said his advice will be used in the coming days to guide the alliance.
In an indication that the BJP is looking to welcome politicians from other parties into its fold, Shah asked party members to connect with well-known personalities and leaders from different communities if they want to be part of the "nationalist mainstream".
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
>Rohini Acharya, Lalu Yadav's daughter who donated her kidney to her father in December 2022, is on her introductory campaign trail in the constituency that has been represented by her father four times.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday sought to highlight his government's accomplishments at the meeting of the Planning Commission in New Delhi.
The US President is extremely interested in this, as the secretary of state is," Roemer told US lawmakers at confirmation hearing when senator Richard Lugar citing a recent World Bank report informed him that there are 828 million Indians living on less than $2 a day.
Here are the 10 key issues likely to be the centre of discussion in the seven-phase general elections that begin on April 19.
An Economic survey released by the state government said the poverty estimates provided by the Planning Commission reveal poverty ratio in the state is 30.7 per cent, 3.2 per cent more than the all-India (27.5 per cent) figure.
The number of US residents living in poverty edged up to 46.5 million last year, the latest sign that an economic recovery marked by a stock market boom has not trickled down to ordinary Americans.
"There are several ways in which poverty can be measured . . . the National Sample Survey is the basis for calculating poverty on headcount basis. However, when minister of state for planning V Narayansamy said 'poverty line is being assessed', there was an uproar in the House and Joshi was joined by CPI-M- MP Brinda Karat, who wanted a satisfactory reply from the minister.
Hailing the role of self-help groups in advancement of marginalised section of society, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said they provide the poor with "self-confidence to overcome poverty".
The debate boils down to what path India should take in coming years as slower growth puts further poverty reduction at risk in the world's second-most populous nation.
'When the mill strike started, there was crisis in every mill worker household.' 'One entire generation went without education.' 'Hunger forced them to take to crime.'
Embarrassed by the debate on whether its suggestion that a human being can live on Rs 32 a day in urban India, the Plan panel has said those who are not really poor should be excluded from being enumerated as being poor.
The Planning Commission pegs decline at 7.8 percentage points between 2009-10 and 2011-12.
Bharatiya Janata Party state president Shamsher Singh Manhas said the menace of corruption has also gripped Jammu and Kashmir.
There's an entire gurdwara dedicated to immigration. People present tiny airliner models here in the hope that Waheguru will soon give them a ticket, passport and visa to leave, reveals Shekhar Gupta.
One third of the world's poor live in India.
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The party was retaliating to farmers' suicide comment by BJP national treasurer Piyush Goyal.
The poverty ratio in the country has fallen steeply during the UPA regime to 21.9 per cent in 2012 from 37.2 per cent in 2004, said the UPA government's Report Card released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
As many as nine crore people would be out from the state of abject poverty in next 5 years if India could stop inequality from rising and levy a nominal tax on the super riches to narrow the rich and poor divide, a report said.
India will soon write to the International Labour Organisation seeking its help to combat the scourge of penury and bring down the poverty ratio to 19 per cent by 2007 from the present level of 26 per cent.\n\n\n\n
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