-The Business Standard   The new Bill will set back the cause of food security - while wrecking central finances. The Food Security Bill cleared by the Union Cabinet for introduction in Parliament seems irrational and impractical by parts. It seeks to provide a statutory right to highly-subsidised food for 75 per cent of the rural population, with 46 per cent in the “priority” category, or below the poverty line (BPL); and to...

-PTI Strongly opposing the draft National Food Security Bill, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa today said it was replete with "confusion and inaccuracy" and asked the Centre not to attempt encroaching into the domains of states. In a strongly-worded letter to PM Manmohan Singh, she said the Central government "should not attempt or be seen to attempt encroaching into the domains of the states" and sought exemption of Tamil Nadu from...

An inconvenient truth? Or yet another case of shoddy data collection by state agencies? The government is scrambling to prove that it is the latter, after data on the UPA's flagship poverty alleviation programme shows that it may not be reaching its intended beneficiaries, those classified in official-speak as below the poverty line (BPL). A recent note circulated to all state departments by the rural development ministry revealed that only...

Bill will come up for discussion in the Cabinet on Monday, says K.V. Thomas Even as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday said the proposed National Food Security Bill was “unacceptable,” Minister of State for Food K.V. Thomas indicated that legislation was coming up for discussion in the Cabinet on Monday. The CPI(M) has demanded the removal of the linking of entitlements to reforms in the public distribution system from...

-The Economic Times Sonia Gandhi's pet programme - the food guarantee scheme - will be cleared by the Cabinet on Monday. The decision has been taken after discussions with agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who has been seeking detailed deliberation on the financial implications of the scheme as well as its impact on the farm sector. The bill will be referred to the standing committee on food after its introduction in Parliament....