National Food security Act can help bring down malnutrition and maternal mortality rates in the country, Biraj Patnaik, principal adviser to the Supreme Court commissioners on right to food, said Wednesday. 'Anaemia during pregnancy is one of the main reasons for maternal death, because that may cause haemorrhage. Food supplement which can tackle iron deficiency is the way to face this challenge,' Patnaik said. According to Patnaik, the body mass index (BMI)...

The forthcoming India visit of the US President, Mr Barack Obama, accompanied by Mr Thomas J. Vilsack, secretary of agriculture, and Dr Rajiv Raj Shah, administrator, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is significant in the context of strengthening the Indo-US partnership in the field of agriculture production and sustainable food security. Several related issues will be discussed in Mumbai on November 6 and November 7 where an agriculture...

The Central Government is drafting a new law that will guarantee food security to a majority of the population, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said on Tuesday. Addressing party delegates attending a daylong session of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) at the Talkatora Stadium here, Gandhi said that a new food security law would create a more efficient and effective public distribution system. "All this will, hopefully ensure an end to malnutrition, which...

With a double-digit food inflation, the increasing food prices will be the biggest concern for Indians over the next six months, a survey released here said Monday. According to the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index , China tops the countries concerned over increasing food prices with 36 percent of consumers in China voting it as the biggest concern over the next six months. India is fifth on the list of countries where...

The Food security Act was UPA-2’s flagship programme. Jean Dreze, member of the National Advisory Council, has publicly criticised the government. He tells VAIBHAV VATS what’s gone wrong. Much like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in the first term of the United Progressive Alliance, the Food security Act was its most ambitious social welfare programme. Since discussions on the Act in the National Advisory Council began, its provisions...