The National Advisory Council (nac) had been widely credited with framing three pro-people legislations — the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Right to Information (RTI) and the Forest Rights Act — under the UPA 1 government. So when nac 2 began discussions on the Food Security Act in mid-2010, expectations were high. The initial vision of an act with a universal public distribution system (PDS), extensive children's entitlements...

Action plan should be finalised to end scourge before March 2012 A plan of action should be finalised within a month or so with the target of ending the pernicious practice of manual scavenging within the 11th Plan period that ends in March 2012, sources in the Social Justice Ministry said. This was the key outcome of a two-day consultation meeting which concluded here on Tuesday. Jointly organised by the Ministries of Social...

The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has decided to stick to its recommendations on the Food Security Act which have been turned down by a committee headed by PM's chief economic adviser C Rangarajan. The nac has released the version of the Bill it has drafted to explain that its recommendations on the size of population to be covered by the Food Security Act were feasible. The Rangarajan committee has cited food...

Heading for further confrontation with Prime Minister’s Office, Sonia Gandhi headed National Advisory Council will soon issue a paper to counter the PM’s Expert Committee’s claim that its proposed National Food Security law cannot be implemented. In its first indication of the confrontation, the nac on Friday issued a draft of the proposed food security law as per its recommendations to the government in October 2010 to cover 75 % of...

The Department of Personnel and Training has rejected most of the changes suggested in the government's Draft Rules for the Right to Information Act by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (nac). The nac, therefore, decided on Friday to have a face-to-face consultation with the DoPT before finalising its recommendations on the subject. The nac had specifically objected to two proposed changes– abating of the proceedings before the Information Commission if...