Patna: Around seventy per cent of rural households in Bihar are routinely forced to skip meals due to high levels of poverty, a new study has revealed.
The study by the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the country's largest welfare scheme, the Public Distribution System (PDS), which aims to target the poor by providing basic food and non-food items at below market prices.
"The level of hunger is quite appalling in Bihar as compared to other Indian states," said development economist Jean Dreze, who led the study which looked at nine states in the country.
"Seventy per cent of the total rural populace interviewed told us they had gone to beds with empty stomach several times in the past," Dreze told journalists over the weekend....
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01:33 AM, Oct 05, 2011
New Delhi: Ending confusion over the Below Poverty Line cap, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Tuesday made it clear that the definition of poverty line remains at Rs 32 per person per day. Speaking to CNN-IBN, Montek said that they will not withdraw the affidavit and have accepted the Tendulkar committee report. As per the affidavit, a family of five spending less than Rs 4,824 (at June,...
04:53 PM, Oct 04, 2011
