Homeless people in Delhi will not have to go hungry anymore. Now, under the Antyodya Anna Yojana (AAY), a homeless household in the Capital will be supplied with 25 kg of wheat, 10 kg of rice, 6 kg of sugar and 22 litres of kerosene oil once it gets an AAY card. The AAY scheme, launched in 2000, intends to provide special food-based assistance to destitute households that are given...

The Centre will set up a Central Food Security Fund to monetarily compensate the Below Poverty Line (BPL) beneficiaries of the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) who fail to get the proposed mandatory 25 kilograms of wheat or rice per family per month at a subsidised rate of Rs. 3 per kg. The compensation would be at the economic cost of the foodgrains so that an entitled beneficiary can buy grains...

The sale of foodgrains through the public distribution system to poor families throughout the country at highly subsidised prices is stinking of corruption, hoarding and black marketing, the Supreme Court appointed central vigilance committee said in its damning reports. After touring various states and scrutinising the operation of PDS system through fair price shops, the committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice D P Wadhwa used following terminology for...

Ralegan Siddhi (Maharashtra): Social activist Anna Hazare, who began an indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday, has alleged that the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra is wasting public money by allowing Ministers to spruce up their already well-furnished cabins. “The State is reeling under a debt burden and Ministers are busy spending lakhs on renovating their cabins.” Mr. Hazare began his fast here on the occasion of Gudi Padwa, the Marathi...

Political influence and interference hampering distribution, says court-appointed vigilance panel  Large-scale diversion of foodgrains; black marketing by fair price shop dealers All-round complicity among FPS, transporters and corrupt Civil Supplies officials The Supreme Court-appointed Central Vigilance Committee (CVC) has slammed the Public Distribution System as one of the most corrupt sectors, saying the root cause of its failure in several States is political interference. “Corruption is all pervasive in the entire chain involved...