The RTI application spilled out mind-boggling inconsistencies “THIS is our NREGS [National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme] farm pond [water harvesting structure],” says 24-year-old Dhanpati with a flourish. Puzzled by his rhetorical declaration, I ask him: “Where is it?” “It is this. You are standing on it,” he says with a wry smile. The farm pond, one of the agricultural revival measures planned by the Central government under the scheme, has not been dug at...
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Food security — by definition by P Sainath
Maharashtra ended famine forever by passing an Act that deleted the word ‘famine' from all laws of the State. Maybe the government, the National Advisory Council and other assorted enthusiasts of the Food Security Bill can learn from Maharashtra about moving towards ending hunger altogether. In 1963, the government of Maharashtra ended famine forever in the State. It did this without adding a morsel to anyone's diet. It did so simply by...
More »Didi of Rural Bihar: Real Agent of Change? by Meera Tiwari
The Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, JeeVika, a state-led women’s self-help group, is active since 2007. Based on primary research, this article highlights the potential role of the individual rural woman – the didi – in driving the social and economic shifts necessary for sustainable poverty reduction in rural Bihar. The term didi is used to address an elder sister. It embodies the notion of respect. Traditionally, the term has remained...
More »Can't implement Supreme Court order on foodgrain: Sharad Pawar
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has responded to Supreme Court's recommendations of distributing grains to the poor for free instead of letting them rot. "It's not possible to implement the Supreme Court's order," the minister said. On August 13, the apex court had asked the Centre to consider free distribution of foodgrain to the hungry poor of the country instead of allowing it to rot in Food Corporation of India...
More »Tackling hunger by Purnima S Tripathy
The NAC suggests steps to ensure food security, but its recommendation for ‘selective universalisation' of the PDS is criticised. INDIA is home to some 230 million undernourished people – that is, 27 per cent of all undernourished people in the world. Worse still, more than half of all child deaths in India are because of malnutrition, and over 1.5 million children in the country are at the risk of being malnourished...
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