Monday, 22nd July, 2013

NATIONAL NEWS

• Rural areas record steep reduction in poverty rate
  • There has been a steep reduction in poverty rate in rural areas compared to urban areas. The number of people living below poverty is estimated at 217 million in rural areas and 52 million in urban areas in 2011-12 against 326 million and 81 million respectively in 2004-05
  • Poverty in India has declined to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12 from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05, according to the latest estimates of The Planning Commission
  • The decline in poverty was comparatively steeper in rural areas, where the percentage of people living below poverty line fell to 25.8 per cent (2011-12) from 42 per cent (2004-05). The poverty rate declined in rural areas by nearly 17 percentage points, between 2004-05 and 2011-12 against around 12 percentage points in urban areas at an all-India level.
  • According to this assessment of poverty, using the Suresh Tendulkar Committee methodology, in Sikkim, Goa, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh recorded the lowest poverty rate in urban areas in 2011-12. Sikkim had the lowest at 3.6 per cent BPL; Goa was at 4 per cent, Tamil Nadu stood at 6.3 and Andhra was 6.2.
  • The data also show that the steepest decline in poverty was in India's poorer states. Moreover, among the five states where rural areas performed better in terms of reduction of BPL include Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

• India to make a strong case at WTO for higher grain production
  • India is preparing to make out a strong case at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for its much higher foodgrain procurement to meet the requirements under the food security ordinance.
  • The ordinance is sure to face resistance at the WTO committee that deals with agriculture. India will primarily have to convince the United States that the ordinance would not violate the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)
  • India had signed the AoA in the late 1980s.It effectively seeks to prevent governments from directly procuring from farmers at well above the prevailing international prices of foodgrains.
  • U.S. authorities have reportedly argued that the ordinance formalises the arrangement of buying from farmers on a massive scale, which may distort trade in future.
  • The logic is that if the State agencies start buying from farmers at well above international prices, it acts as an implicit incentive for the local farmer to produce more than he/she otherwise would. That would squeeze out global grain suppliers. Of course, India is contesting this on the ground that persistently high inflation makes it imperative for the country to raise the Minimum Support Price for farmers from time to time.
  • In fact, India will invoke Clause 18.4 of the AoA, which says “due allowance shall be given” to inflation rate in determining whether the Minimum Support Price violates the agreement.

• An article on mud volcano

OPINION/EDITORIALS

• Article on the recent RTI verdict on political parties
• Editorial on social housing
• Another article on the supreme court judgement on criminals in politics