The government has sought more time to work on the food security bill after Congress chief Sonia Gandhi insisted on a comprehensive legislation to tackle the problem of hunger among India’s poor. An empowered group of ministers had cleared the draft bill last month but reviewed it tonight at Sonia’s insistence and sought more time for deeper study. After the 90-minute meeting of the group, food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar...
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Core Group on prices meeting tomorrow by Gargi Parsai
With food inflation still in double-digits, the first meeting of the Core Group of Central Ministers and State Chief Ministers on Prices of Essential Commodities is being held here on Thursday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will preside. Ten Chief Ministers are expected to attend. The States that will be represented include Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Assam. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee heads the group,...
More »Poor families may get right to 35 kg foodgrains a month
A ministers' panel meeting tomorrow is likely to consider raising poor families' entitlement for rice or wheat to 35 kg per month at Rs 3 a kg. The Empowered Group of Ministers of Food, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, earlier on March 18 cleared the Food Security Bill, which provided poor families right to 25 kg of the foodgrain in a month . The EGoM is revisiting the bill, the ambitious...
More »Gathering Storm by Ajit Sahi and Rana Ayyub
UNLESS THE prices of vegetables skyrocket and become a scandal — as they have over several weeks now, or as did the price of sugar last year — little in the out-of-sight world of Indian agriculture excites the imagination of the city folks, who influence, rather disproportionately, everything from government policies to newspaper content. Few of those who enjoy a hearty meal and wax lovingly on their favourite dishes can...
More »National Food Security Bill to be vetted by Law Ministry by Gargi Parsai
The Empowered Group of Ministers that met here on Thursday has advised the Union Food Ministry to get the National Food Security Bill vetted by the Law Ministry before placing it in the Union Cabinet for approval. The proposed Bill envisages provision of 25 kg. of wheat or rice to BPL families at Rs. 3 per kg per month. However, despite burgeoning wheat stocks, the EGoM chaired by Union Finance Minister...
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