Rural Development in India

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 05 May 2011 23:26

NAC member flays food bill ‘corruption’
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110430/j ... 922507.jsp

NAC member regrets hurdles, betrayals for food security bill
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/n ... 66891.html

Enough excuses on food security bill
http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/editoria ... 71206.html

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 08 May 2011 15:13

Need to ensure foodgrain for poor first: KV Thomas
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ne ... as_1540124

Pro-poor judicial initiatives: now for a media push
http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/25/stories ... 971100.htm

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 09 May 2011 11:48

Crores spent on games and airports, why not on grain silos: Dr Swaminathan
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Crore ... an/781201/

Dr Swaminathan may have to go to the masses about this bill to gain momentum and support.

somnath · Post by **somnath** » 09 May 2011 12:07

joshvajohn wrote:Need to ensure foodgrain for poor first: KV Thomas
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ne ... as_1540124

KV Thomas is being less than honest here..Export of foodgrains is required in order to vacate storge spaces for the upcoming procurement season..Plus, this is a good time to export, when global prices are high, rather than exporting when prices tank (which is expected)!

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 09 May 2011 15:02

Food rights bill holds key to India farm exports plan
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 204547.cms

In the clamour over the incessant violence in Jungle Mahal, the haunting facts about its impoverished villages sometimes get muted.

The Maoist-affected districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia are also home to some of the most poverty-stricken hamlets of India. "The government has forgotten that we exist," is a common lament among its residents.

They all talk about a life spent in hopeless poverty, interspersed with indifferent government measures and sporadic media attention.

http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/s ... 110509.htm

Rapid economic change in India has created confronting anomalies. High-tech wizardry and medieval squalor live side by side. It is possible to access fast wireless broadband in villages where children are dying of starvation and thanks to the explosive growth of mobiles, more Indians probably have access to phone calls than toilets.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/ ... z1LqgkBWis

Mr. Gandhi said the poor and Dalits had not been included in the list of people living below the poverty line. Criticising the State government's silence on the issue for the past four-five years, he urged the Prime Minister to come to the aid of this section. Food security for all, he said, would help to prevent starvation deaths and suicides on account of poverty.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/oth ... 981247.ece

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 09 May 2011 19:31

somnath wrote:
joshvajohn wrote:Need to ensure foodgrain for poor first: KV Thomas
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ne ... as_1540124
KV Thomas is being less than honest here..Export of foodgrains is required in order to vacate storge spaces for the upcoming procurement season..Plus, this is a good time to export, when global prices are high, rather than exporting when prices tank (which is expected)!

Trading mentality.

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 10 May 2011 17:48

An end to big fat Indian weddings?
By Sudha Ramachandran

BANGALORE - India is mulling legislation to restrict the number of dishes served at weddings. Aimed at preventing wastage of food at social gatherings, the proposed move would involve slimming down one of the key elements of the big fat Indian wedding - the menu.

Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Kuruppasserry Varkey Thomas told reporters last week that his ministry had received several suggestions to curb food wastage at social functions. Among these was a suggestion from the National Advisory Council (NAC) that called for legislation similar to Pakistan's "one-dish law"
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ME11Df02.html

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 11 May 2011 09:49

'2,500 kids die every day'
http://www.hindustantimes.com/2-500-kid ... 95904.aspx

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 11 May 2011 23:13

joshvajohn wrote:An end to big fat Indian weddings?
By Sudha Ramachandran

BANGALORE - India is mulling legislation to restrict the number of dishes served at weddings. Aimed at preventing wastage of food at social gatherings, the proposed move would involve slimming down one of the key elements of the big fat Indian wedding - the menu.

Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Kuruppasserry Varkey Thomas told reporters last week that his ministry had received several suggestions to curb food wastage at social functions. Among these was a suggestion from the National Advisory Council (NAC) that called for legislation similar to Pakistan's "one-dish law"
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ME11Df02.html

What bad-karma Bharat did to get this type phukkin dig heads as federal ministers

somnath · Post by **somnath** » 12 May 2011 07:12

chaanakya wrote: Trading mentality.

???

saip · Post by **saip** » 12 May 2011 07:33

Did not we have this kind of rule years ago, when we had food shortages and lived on PL480 doles? There is no reason now to have this restriction. Educate people not to waste food and have some machinery for collecting excessive food and distributing it to the poor.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 12 May 2011 08:40

somnath wrote:
chaanakya wrote: Trading mentality.
???

He is referring to people's mindset that is looking for profit making opportunities even at the cost of a small famine in some corner of the nation.

Perhaps Chaanakyaji doesn't know that NREGA offers direct cash to BPL families that they can use to buy food at market prices. Or he doesn't know that HDI is calculated based on Avg Life Expectancy, Access to Education, and Standard of Living; and a million hunger deaths can be a negligible factor in HDI calculation in a nation of billion plus people. (imagine 1.210 billion people's life expectancy increased by 2 years where as 10 million people die of hunger and the average life expectancy can still grow by 1.5 years).

What we need is more urbanization, that will increase public spending and GDP growth; it automatically ensure that our HDI indicators will improve. In the logic of averages few million lives doesn't matter much.

Eurekaaaa

Why doesn't India nuke Pakistan to stone age and then with in a year can increase the average HDI indicators of united India using our demographic advantage.

somnath · Post by **somnath** » 12 May 2011 09:56

RamaY wrote:He is referring to people's mindset that is looking for profit making opportunities even at the cost of a small famine in some corner of the nation.

Sarcasm takes a better, more credible hue when you base it on solid "empirics"! Why is exporting foodgrains important? Two reasons (it was clear in the post itself)..One, storage space is at an absolute premium in India today..If grains sitting in storages are not "evcuated", there would be no space to store the new kharif grain that is coming into mandis right now..In fact there are already reports of farmers burning up crops lying in storage as it is rotting in order to make way for the new produce...Two, and slightly lesser issue, is global food prices allow us to export at a profit right now...If we wait, and prices crash, we will still be forced to export (as the requirement for storage will not go away), but at a loss...

About the rest - HDI, NREGS, Pak et al, no point responding, you are obvioulsy making a rhetorical point...

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 13 May 2011 00:40

Is India hiding its starvation deaths?
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/gl ... ion-deaths

Both the health ministry and the women and child development ministries refused to give affidavits to the Supreme Court on the number of children who die of starvation in India each year, reports the Times of India.

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 15 May 2011 01:58

IIPM Prof. Sutanu Guru on 'THE REAL NATIONAL SHAME: FOOD'
http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_ ... &Itemid=31

In a recent column, the respected agriculture economist M. S. Swaminathan has described the bumper crop of wheat in Punjab and Haryana as a moment of both ecstasy and agony. Ecstasy because the 85 million tons of wheat output reveal how our intrepid farmers battle against all odds do their bit for food security in the country; agony because most of their efforts go down the drain because of a hopelessly incompetent and criminally callous Government, particularly the Food and Agriculture Ministry headed by our cricket Czar Sharad Pawar. At the moment, India is sitting on about 45 million tonnes of food grains, quaintly known as buffer stocks. As procurement gathers momentum each day, it will not be surprising if the stockpile of food grains crosses the 50 million ton mark very soon. In fact, so acute is the crisis of ‘surplus’ that state and central procurement agencies now claim they simply have no space left to store any more food. There will be the usual tales of corrupt and venal procurement officials harassing poor farmers with demand for bribes. Worse, most of the food procured will simply rot as the government has not managed even the childishly simple task of building adequate and safe storage godowns despite more than 20 years of persistent surpluses. What can you say about the priorities of our system when spanking new stadiums for the recently concluded Cricket World Cup can be built almost overnight under the benign supervision of Mr. Sharad Pawar while we fail to erect simple concrete structures to store food in a dispensation run by the same man?

The most commonsense and obvious solution is to allow Indian farmers to export food so that they can reap the benefits of globalisation, just as our IT, Telecom, Automobile, Petrochemical and Infrastructure tycoons have been doing. But mention the word 'exports' and you will encounter storms of protest from both do-gooders and government types who say allowing exports of food will once again uncork the genie of food inflation. They will say how each kilo of food will now be crucial since the Right to Food is now a constitutional requirement and that the buffer stocks will be needed to distribute free food to the poor. They also talk about how onion exports and one bad harvest led to onion prices going through the roof last year.

Frankly, such arguments are nonsense and reflect the defeatist mindset our policymakers acquired during the dark era of socialist inspired shortages of everything. First, be assured that almost all the ‘free’ food that will be doled out to the poor will be so rotten due to poor storage that it will be virtually unfit for consumption. Second, and more important, such arguments ignore the fact that foodgrain productivity in India is still half that of China. Quite simply, we have the potential and the ability to almost double our foodgrain output to close to 500 million tonnes a year. That one national endeavour will enrich tens of millions of farmer families who can export food even as the poor get enough free food.

But I guess shrinking TRP ratings of IPL matches are a bigger priority for our honourable Minister.

The wheat mountains of the Punjab

The arrival of large quantities of wheat in the grain markets of the Punjab-Haryana region is a heart-warming sight, while poor storage is a matter of national shame.

http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/11/stories ... 831200.htm

suryag · Post by **suryag** » 15 May 2011 02:59

Pardon me for my ignorance but cant private entities buy from the farmers ? or cant they form cooperatives to sell their produce directly to end customers

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 15 May 2011 13:34

Punjab procures 105.02 lakh tonnes of Wheat

Punjab Newsline Network
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
CHANDIGARH:Punjab has successfully procured 105.02 lac MT of Wheat through government agencies and private traders during the current Rabi season till last evening, thereby crossing the last year procurement mark of 102.70 lac MT.

http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/p ... heat/31055

Punjab heading for record wheat procurement
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/n ... 78489.html

There are private traders who also pay good price for procurement. There is an overproduction of Wheat here. There are attempts by farmers to get some minimum price for the wheat at least. But the Central govt has not invested much on storage and thus waste the wheat to be rotten. The state government is also not organising things properly in a way that will get the farmers the proper price and also distribution and storage are done properly. There is a need for cooperation betwen central, state governments and also private parties in such as not. only what storage even other things such as vegetable and meat storage are created in large scale so that the wastes can be reduced and prices can be maintain nomally. The central government exploits Punjab farmers on the one hand and poor and hungry in India other hand by not planning strategically in distributing the food grain properly and getting the correct prices on the other. such a hard work in getting the pumper wheat in Punjab gets punished by low prices of wheat while wasting the food without proper plan or strategy of distribution.

The food bill can be flexible by fixing the prices for different categories at different level. Some state govts follow interesting system of distribution and subsidiary. A group of ministers are not only corrupted but also destroy this country with all their efforts by not allowing the system to change.

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 17 May 2011 13:54

SC steals march over govt's food security act
Nitin Sethi, May 16, 2011, 12.54am IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court stole a march on Saturday over a wavering UPA with its direction to the government to consider altering the poverty line and distributing 5 million tonnes of foodgrain to the poorest 150 districts.

With the proposed Food Security Act being lobbed back and forth between the government, the Congress leadership and the National Advisory Council, the apex court's order dented UPA's pro-poor image. It might have been lucky that the order coincided with the Assembly election result dazzle.

The Food Security Act — a poll promise of Congress —is meant to provide subsidized grains to the poor. For UPA, it's the flagship 'pro-poor' scheme in its second tenure. But the dithering within and a strong view in the government that 'fiscal prudence' is of the highest priority allowed the courts to order what could easily have been Congress' first 'gift' to the poor.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... tricts-upa

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 18 May 2011 23:08

Differences on Food Bill being resolved: Thomas
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Di ... as/792726/

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 20 May 2011 11:53

NGOs up in arms against Sheila's cash-for-ration plan
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 456175.cms

Kejriwal challeneged the government's claim that there was too much corruption in the PDS. "But that is a flawed logic. All government schemes in which cash is given out suffer from much more corruption than PDS."

He further said it had been seen that men had all the control on money in poor families and women control food and ration. "Once cash replaces ration, the men are likely to misuse the money on things like liquor. A doing away with PDS would be dangerous as it would destabilize the food economy and lead to inflation."

Move to provide cash instead of foodgrains in Delhi questioned
Press Trust of India / New Delhi May 19, 2011, 16:09 IST
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... /135754/on

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 24 May 2011 15:13

Mending the Food Security Act
Jean Drèze
http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/24/stories ... 661000.htm

New Delhi
‘NAC food law draft in 15 days’
http://www.hindustantimes.com/NAC-food- ... 01018.aspx

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 26 May 2011 02:59

An Agriculture Ministry official also shared the Food Ministry’s view and told The Pioneer that the Government would have to invest a lot for increasing production to meet the demand.

Even as officials of the Food Ministry have raised the red flag over the NAC proposal, taking a political line, Food & Consumer Affairs Minister KV Thomas on Tuesday said the Government is likely to give legal right to food to both priority and general categories.

Thomas noted, “There is no difference of opinion for priority category. The differences are on general category. NAC is saying give legal entitlement, while the Rangarajan Committee is saying no legal entitlement for the general category.”

http://www.dailypioneer.com/341305/Food ... yield.html

http://nac.nic.in/foodsecurity/nfsb.pdf

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 26 May 2011 08:17

joshvajohn wrote:NGOs up in arms against Sheila's cash-for-ration plan
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 456175.cms
Kejriwal challeneged the government's claim that there was too much corruption in the PDS. "But that is a flawed logic. All government schemes in which cash is given out suffer from much more corruption than PDS."

He further said it had been seen that men had all the control on money in poor families and women control food and ration. "Once cash replaces ration, the men are likely to misuse the money on things like liquor. A doing away with PDS would be dangerous as it would destabilize the food economy and lead to inflation."

These issues can be solved. Provide direct transfers to bank accounts operated by the women. The women should be able to make purchases using debit cards linked to these bank accounts, which can be used ONLY at approved shops (which should not stock things like liquor). Additionally there should be biometric verification at the point-of-sale so that the debit card is used only by the woman.

The activists seem to ignore the problem that subsidized rations will get diverted to the open market. There is also a problem of fake identities and falsified records.

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 30 May 2011 14:05

Thank you Pranav for clarifying note.

India food security law to cover 70% of population
http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Ind ... 0-3-1.html

Food Act subsidy burden can be shared by Centre and states: N C Saxena
http://www.fnbnews.com/article/detnews. ... ectionid=1

Haresh · Post by **Haresh** » 19 Jun 2011 18:02

Indian Village Renamed Snapdeal.com. And It’s Not A Cheap Marketing Stunt!

http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/17/indian ... ing-stunt/

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 29 Jun 2011 17:27

Govt needs to finalise Food Bill: Montek Singh
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/econom ... 61240.html

The present government is quick in implementing antigovernment policies while propeople policies they block everything on the way. For example petrol prices were raised suddenly twice and thrice. But to bring in Food bill every minister triesto question and thud wants to delay. To export the food grains they are quick to react and so the same case with Lokpal.

It is sad Congress gov leaders do not have heart for Indians.

RamaT · Post by **RamaT** » 13 Jul 2011 10:21

This is happening in Philippines, should be adopted in India wholesale.

http://uk.reuters.com/video/2011/07/11/ ... Channel=82

A bottled liter of water with a few teaspoons of bleach is proving to be a successful recipe for dwellers in the light-deprived slums of the Philippines. The simple technology is spreading sunlight in places where it has never been, and saving residents money at the same time.

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 23 Jul 2011 23:38

Activists like Mander and Professor Jean Dreze point out important differences between the government's version and what the NAC had suggested.

* While the NAC has suggested four kilograms of foodgrain per person each month, the government has reduced it to three kilograms.
* The NAC's draft covers 90 per cent of rural households, but the government has brought it down to 75 per cent.
* The maternity benefit of Rs. 1000 per month for six months to fight malnutrition suggested by the NAC has been completely dropped by the government.
* The government has proposed a National Food Commission but with no powers to penalise erring officials, in place of the NAC's independent grievance redressal and monitoring mechanism in every district.

NAC, Government split over Food Security Bill

The present government has become a killer machine while taking people's money into Swiss accounts, it increasing the prices of petrol uncontrollably while not bothered to bring in bills like Food Security Bill in its good format!

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/nac-g ... -121576&cp

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/nac-g ... -121576&cp

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 01 Aug 2011 02:33

Sharad Pawar differs on Food Security Bill
Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/shara ... -123009&cp

AgriMin fails to stop Food Bill in tracks
http://www.dailypioneer.com/356545/Agri ... tracks.htm
Wheat exports ban lifted, market says move too late
BS Reporter / New Delhi July 17, 2011, 0:11 IST
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... te/442995/

.
Wheat export has been pushed by Sharad pawar who wants te stop the food security act at all costs.

Farmer suicides in India: How many more Vidarbhas can we afford?
http://www.thecommentfactory.com/farmer ... ford-5002/

Politics around these suicides has started and it will only take a bitter shape as UP is going for elections early next year. We can not expect a relief or solution from our political leadership as we have seen in the case of Vidarbha where more than 15,0000 farmers have committed suicides over last ten years and that too when the region was represented by none other than Union Minister for Agriculture Mr. Sharad Pawar.

Sharad Pawar's policies is responsible for many farmers' suicide. He has billions in his hands at the cost of the blood of many Indians! For every hunger death in India he is responsible, his policies.

Food law likely to be delayed
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Food-law- ... 27136.aspx

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 04 Aug 2011 16:50

If this Bill is approved by the Cabinet, the government will be missing an opportunity to do something about food security in the country. We believe that such a Bill in fact does more damage than good and must be rejected. We reject this version of the NFSB and demand that any Bill must at the very least have the following:

1. Universalisation of PDS entitlements (along with expansion in quantity and introduction of other commodities such as pulses and oil).
2. Provisions to incentivise food production and for decentralised procurement and storage.
3. Provisions for strengthening the PDS delivery system based on the experience of many successful initiatives by states such as Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa etc.
4. Comprehensive measures for addressing child malnutrition that include school mid-day meals, universalisation with quality of the ICDS and maternity entitlements along with provisions for treatment of severely malnourished children.
5. Clearly defined entitlements for vulnerable groups such as the aged, disabled, widows, migrants and destitute including monthly pensions, community kitchens and destitute feeding programmes.
6. Effective measures for grievance redress, transparency and accountability.
7. Safeguards against commercial interference in any of the food / nutrition related schemes and against the introduction of cash transfers in place of PDS.

The Right to Food Campaign gives a national call for action to reject the government’s draft National Food Security Bill.

http://www.fnbnews.com/article/detnews. ... ctionid=23

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 27 Aug 2011 13:32

Food Bill only in next session: Thomas
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/food- ... as/833612/

Why delay

Airavat · Post by **Airavat** » 03 Sep 2011 07:13

Decentralised renewable energy may augment rural electrification

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 09 Sep 2011 20:37

Long promised by the UPA government, the food security bill will be tabled in parliament in December this year. However, the National Advisory Council (NAC), which drafted the proposal, is tussling with the government over the “dilution and misdirection” of the Bill. The final Bill diverges from the original NAC draft on key issues: adoption of alternatives to the PDS such as cash transfers, the risk of inflation due to cash subsidies, the omission of legal guarantees and punishments for non-compliance, and the continued misidentification of the poor.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_st ... od_1582969

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 09 Sep 2011 20:40

joshvajohn wrote:
Long promised by the UPA government, the food security bill will be tabled in parliament in December this year. However, the National Advisory Council (NAC), which drafted the proposal, is tussling with the government over the “dilution and misdirection” of the Bill. The final Bill diverges from the original NAC draft on key issues: adoption of alternatives to the PDS such as cash transfers, the risk of inflation due to cash subsidies, the omission of legal guarantees and punishments for non-compliance, and the continued misidentification of the poor.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_st ... od_1582969

I should strongly recommend that present government MMS and a group of old ministers who are hanging to power for a long time should all be replaced by young people who want change India and who care for Indians more than their own richness and rather than filling Indian banks with people's money.

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 15 Sep 2011 23:34

The present congress government made may people poorer and food inaccessible by allowing prices to go up to higher peaks. This govt has gone completely mad! anti people! Anti national! procorruption! procriminals!
Why it is still there? Even the supreme court has challenged them!
These are old Congresees who are destroying this nation for ever. They are squandrals who are stealing the money of this nation. Even PM's integrity is no more reliable but safeguarding his position and thus protecting all those antinationals and corrupt ministers who provide him numbers.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 15 Sep 2011 23:39

joshvajohn garu,

How good is the new congress, starting from Yuvraj to YSJagans (I know he got kicked out of the party).?

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 16 Sep 2011 01:07

Weddings in India are full of gluttony. With 50 different type of pakoras (bhajia) and 20 different type of chicken not to speak of rest. Law to restrict such mindless lavishness is a must.

Virupaksha · Post by **Virupaksha** » 16 Sep 2011 01:13

SBajwa wrote:Weddings in India are full of gluttony. With 50 different type of pakoras (bhajia) and 20 different type of chicken not to speak of rest. Law to restrict such mindless lavishness is a must.

how one spends his own hard earned money in a celebration held once in a lifetimes is none of others concern.

Please pass a law to restrict ALL the "psuedo-secular" celebrations like new years/valentine then please come and touch these. They are even worse with respect to lavishness and complete lack of occasion than compared to marriage.

Ban all the greeting shops/gift shops and please make India a colourless homogenous crowd like US is.

bhavin · Post by **bhavin** » 16 Sep 2011 01:25

SBajwa wrote:Weddings in India are full of gluttony. With 50 different type of pakoras (bhajia) and 20 different type of chicken not to speak of rest. Law to restrict such mindless lavishness is a must.

With due respect SBajwaji - I think this kind of thinking is similar to reports that I used to read about Ambani's $1B palace where local/foreign journalists/chatterati were saying why they are spending $1B when India has so many poor people. In my opinion - it is Ambani's money and they can very well choose to do what they want with it.

I can understand being socially conscious but these 50 types of pakoras and 20 types of chicken is done only by people who can afford it and I don't want the government to have a say in how I celebrate/enjoy any occasion or event. IMHO having a law that restricts such things is for the lack of a better word - stupid - Who will implement and monitor it? How stopping that would help poor/hungry countrymen? Would the government tomorrow restrict how many chaddi's I can wear if there is a cotton scarcity?? This is a classic case of over regulation without any assured and transparent benefits. Maybe if they added a tax based on the size of the expense and used that tax exclusively for providing food to less privileged sections of the society but again the same question - who will guard the guardian??

Just my 2c

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 16 Sep 2011 21:58

Laws to restrict lavishness/gluttony/<put whatever else here> is just another means to make money off people, and will lead to more corruption. Those who can will grease the right palms and continue as before.

We shouldn't restrict the right of each person to spend their money as they see fit (provided it isn't for criminal/anti-national purpose).