Today’s Links 8/27/2013

Kevin Sieff, “Years later, a flattened Afghan village reflects on U.S. bombardment” (Washington Post): A heartbreaking look back at Tarok Kolache, an Afghan village the U.S. leveled in an effort to clear out Taliban. Key line: “Relative peace came to Tarok Kolache, but only after it was demolished.”

“All You Need to know about the National Food Security Bill” (FirstPost): A just the facts run-down on the just-passed legislation, which makes subsidized grain a right for 67% of the population, at the cost of $22 billion a year.

Nitin Pai, “Robbery is not a right” (Indian National Interest): Highly critical take on the Food Security Bill, which Pai believes echoes the failures of license raj socialism pre-1991. Making access to subsidized food a “right” is the wrong approach to securing the welfare of India’s poor.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta, “Once upon a food bill” (Indian Express): Focusing on the political fall-out of the Food Bill, Mehta argues that UPA scored a political victory by demonstrating that the opposition BJP lacks any “alternative economic vision for the poor.” Mehta cautions that Congress is not out of the woods yet; it still hasn’t reckoned with India’s anemic growth.