The 'India Corruption Study 2007', brought out by NGOs Transparency International India (TII) and Centre for Media Studies (CMS), found that about one-third of Below Poverty Line (BPL) households in the country bribed officials to avail a total of 11 services -- from police to PDS.
The multilateral lender, in its recently released report 'Global Economic Prospects for 2009', said a quarter of India's population will be living in extreme poverty, on less than $1.25 a day, in 2015. According to the World Bank's poverty forecast, China had 60.2 per cent of its population living on less than $1.25 a day in 1990, compared to India's 51.3 per cent.
The Congress on Thursday released its manifesto for the forthcoming Karnataka polls. The Congress has chalked out a separate manifesto for Bangalore. Apart from promises of providing 25 kg rice at Rs 2 and a free colour TV to families living below the poverty line, the Congress has also promised 24-hour electric supply to both urban and rural areas.
Researchers at University of California, Los Angeles and University of Southern California conducted the study.\n\n
Congress chief Mallikarjuna Kharge said that if voted to power, the party would provide loans at three per cent interest rate for farmers, journalists, women's self help groups, potters, handloom weavers, fishermen and shepherds. All pending loans under the Ashraya and Awaz Yojana scheme will also be waived off.Free colour TVs and 25 kg of rice at Rs 2 for families living below the poverty line that is what the Congress manifesto promises.
The Andhra Pradesh government has re-launched the Rs 2-a-kg rice scheme for below-poverty-line (BPL) families in the State from Wednesday, coinciding with Ugadi, the Telugu New Year Day that was celebrated two days ago. Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy formally inaugurated the scheme at Jadcharla in backward Mahbubnagar district on Wednesday.
The 'poor' also own TVs and two-wheelers and no discussion of poverty is complete unless it acknowledges this.
India is the birthplace of four major world religions -- Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is home to the world's third largest Muslim population, a diverse community of sects that includes Sufis, Shia, and Bohra. Roughly three per cent of India's citizens are Christian, and notably, Christians are the religious majority in three of India's 29 states, she said.
The study of the Targeted Public Distribution System, which covered 18 states, held that though the offtake per household has shown improvement yet only about 57 per cent of the below the poverty line households are covered. The information was given by minister of state for finance Pawan Kumar Bansal in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Based on evaluation studies and feedback received from states, a nine point action plan has been jointly formulated.
Participating in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address to Parliament, senior Congress leader and party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said in the Rajya Sabha that the economy has grown by over eight per cent in the last four years.
High growth sustained in first half of FY'08 at 9.1 pc.
The study 'Orissa in Transition: From Fiscal Turnaround to Rapid and Inclusive Growth' was conducted by the World Bank in 2007. The study found that the poverty headcount ratio for the state, after rising during 1993-99, declined during 2000-2005 by more than 8 percentage points in rural Orissa and 2.5 percentage points in urban Orissa. This is better than the all-India average decline of 5 percentage points for urban India and 2 percentage points for rural India.
A shortfall in LPG supply from Aramco has led to huge booking backlog across states. To meet the backlog, India has asked Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for two additional cargos of LPG, but that may take another 10 days to reach.
As and when the pandemic recedes from these shores, rebuilding the economy will be the biggest challenge for Modi in the remaining three years of his term, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The latest NCAER annual household survey, to use other data, points out that around 33 per cent of the bottom 40 per cent of households had a television set and another 12 per cent a two-wheeler in 2005 -- how they can all be poor is anyone's guess, says Sunil Jain.
Rashtra Swasthya Beema Yojana to start from April 1 in Delhi and Haryana. Each family belonging to the unorganised sector will get Rs 30,000.
Government said on Thursday it is working on a scheme to provide health insurance to the poor, besides offering life and disability cover to one earning member of each economically weaker family.
While India boasts of its nuclear strength, 600 million people are still living in darkness, 150 million do not have access to health clinics and farmers' suicides make it to the pages of newspapers now and then, Tharoor said at a 'Face To Face' programme organised by Bengal Initiative, a conclave of front-runners in different fields of the state, on Sunday night.
Yes, industry should be socially responsible and it would be nice if the rich did not flaunt their wealth in a poor country, but what is needed most of all is effective governance and reform of the government.
Norms flouted, non-BPL families cornered grants, say rural development ministry's reports.
As corporate line up CSR activities backed by a huge cash flow, a small group of people lying below the poverty line are treading the road untravelled. As many as 27 marginalised salt pan workers, who earn their living in Kutch by producing salt from the area, are now proud owners of a private limited company called Sabras, formed a year ago.
Lord Swaraj Paul emphasised on Monday that India can become a developed country if the issues of education, health and security are dealt with.
With the possibility of a midterm poll looming large, the government has announced a slew of populist schemes.
By all accounts, straight forward, publicly provided healthcare is working well in Tamil Nadu which is emerging as the next big human development success after Kerala.
He was addressing the Madhya Pradesh Assembly while marking the start of its golden jubilee celebrations.\n
Nearly 25 million jobs could be lost worldwide due to the coronavirus pandemic, but an internationally coordinated policy response can help lower the impact on global unemployment, according to a UN agency. In its preliminary assessment report titled 'COVID-19 and world of work: Impacts and responses', the International Labour Organization (ILO) calls for urgent, large-scale and coordinated measures across three pillars -- protecting workers in the workplace, stimulating the economy and employment, and supporting jobs and incomes.
Millions of people living below the poverty line in India will benefit from 250 million pounds of new UK aid aimed at reducing the number of children that die before their fifth birthday, Gareth Thomas, Minister for International Development said.
C Rangarajan, chairman of the economic advisory council to the prime minister, has called for revisiting subsidies, dividend distribution tax and tax exemptions.
As of last year, India had 1.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people.
There should be transparent national standards and parameters to decide who the poor are
The Centre is considering a comprehensive health insurance scheme to cover about 25 per cent of India's poor, who are below the poverty line.
A survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation has revealed that 51 per cent or more than half of India's rural households (marginal farmers possessing less than 1,076 square feet of land) have no ration card at all.
Penning a Facebook post on the second anniversary of GST rollout, Jaitley said as many as 20 states are already showing more than a 14 per cent increase in their revenues and do not require the Centre to compensate them for revenue loss arising out of GST implementation.
Even in this season of political-peeing-on-lampposts, Rahul Gandhi's statement takes the cake (with due apologies to another astute observer of poverty, the much late Mary Antoinette).
Wheat will be now be sold to the schemes at Rs 2 per kg, while rice would be given at Rs 3 per kg.
