-Down to Earth The most controversial aspect of the food security law is the restructuring of the public distribution system to cover an unprecedented 67 per cent of the population, most of them in the poorer states. LATHA JISHNU, JYOTIKA SOOD and SUCHITRA M explain why there are winners and losers in the new dispensation and how states with better PDS will have to find huge resources to keep their numbers...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Food Security Bill on shaky turf -KP Prabhakaran Nair
-The New Indian Express In 1948 when the United Nations passed the covenant ensuring the right to food, vis-à-vis the right to proper livelihood, to which India became a signatory, it did not envisage that the whole issue would be caught up in such an imbroglio - political and economic - as one witnesses today. The original covenant in article 25 ensures the "right to work and livelihood" and right to...
More »Haryana govt justifies Rs 2-3 compensation to rain-hit farmers
-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: Rubbing salt into the wounds of rain-hit farmers who were issued cheques of Rs 2 and Rs 3 as compensation, the Haryana government on Friday justified the criteria on which the entitlement was based, even claiming that in some were paid in excess. A farmer who got a cheque of Rs 3 in Jhajjar district, was actually given 33 paise in excess, according to a press note...
More »Monsanto’s climate-resilient crop patent claims rejected -Sanjay Vijayakumar
-The Economic Times CHENNAI: India's patent appeals board has denied Monsanto a patent for a genetically-engineered method of increasing climate resilience in plants. The decision is significant not only for Monsanto's loss of possible exclusivity in an increasingly important segment but also for the interpretation of India's home-grown clauses in patent law - these are unpopular with global companies - for the first time in the case of plants. The Intellectual Property...
More »Maharashtra govt to sell 30% cheaper veggies at 10 city centres
-The Times of India MUMBAI: Unable to prevent prices of vegetables and fruits from going through the roof, the state government is now promising their supply to Mumbaikars at reduced rates, a promise observers say needs to be taken with a pile of salt. Starting Monday, the government will-for the first time since 1999-sell vegetables and fruits at a price 30% lower than the current retail rate at select co-operative outlets...
More »