The government will enact a legislation to ensure subsidised wheat and rice to the poor, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said at a seminar titled Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern States. “We are committed to enacting a legislation on food security (called National Food Security Act). But to make it successful, we need to produce more, procure more and strengthen the delivery mechanism for making foodgrain accessible to the poor at affordable...
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BJP model for blanket food bill by Radhika Ramaseshan
The radicals in the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) are unlikely to give in to the conservatives’ case against the universalisation of food subsidy. They insisted that not only was universalisation theoretically possible but it also worked “successfully” on the ground. In what could make the Centre squirm, they cited BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh as an example of what an inclusive public distribution system (PDS) could do. An indication that the NAC’s radicals were...
More »Radicals lose Round One on food bill by Radhika Ramaseshan
Conservatives appeared to trump the “radicals” as the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council met today to consider revolutionary suggestions to widen the content and targets of a proposed “right to food” law. The food rights campaigners in the council wanted a targeted public distribution system (PDS) to cover all except the affluent, providing not just cheap cereals but also other requirements of nursing mothers, children, the aged and the physically challenged. The...
More »EGoM on Food Security awaits NAC’s views by Ravish Tiwari
The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food Security will have to wait for formal views from the National Advisory Council (NAC) before its next move on the government’s promise to legislate a National Food Security Act. The EGoM, which is scheduled to meet Friday, chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, did not list the Bill on its agenda for the meeting. While officials claimed that this was because Deputy...
More »To perk up food produce, UPA eyes eastern states by Devesh Kumar
IT’S NOW “look east’’ policy for the Krishi Bhawan as well. Keen to extend the green revolution to the eastern states, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar will be holding a day-long conclave with top-level representatives from six states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal — at Kolkata on July 10. On the discussion table will be ways to augment agricultural productivity in this region so as to...
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