-Deccan Herald System overhaul: Transparency measures with strong accountability mechanisms can usher in change The National Food Security Act (NFSA) passed in 2013 gives statutory backing to the Public Distribution System (PDS). Up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population is entitled to receive food grain under the Act. Beneficiaries are categorised into priority households, entitled to 5 kg of subsidised grains per person per month, and Antyodaya...

-The Hindu With grocers and cold storage owners refusing to accept scrapped currency notes, farmers are struggling to get potato seeds while landless labourers are forced to forgo their food. Chitra Bag and her family of six are eating less these days. They make do with one meal instead of the usual THRee meals, despite a gruelling 8-10 hours of work daily as landless farm labourers. Even though vegetables, grown around their...

-The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement demonetising high denomination notes on November 8, 2016, will do little to address the prime objective of flushing out black money but will adversely affect the economy in the short term, especially the informal sector, which is predominant in India, says M. Govinda Rao, a Member of the Fourteenth Finance Commission and Emeritus Professor, National Institute of Public...

-Livemint.com Supreme Court directed the Centre to suspend the licenses of firecracker manufacturers and sellers and not hand out fresh licenses till further orders New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday banned the manufacture and sale of firecrackers in the national capital region (NCR) to stem air pollution in Delhi and neighbouring towns. A THRee-judge bench headed by T.S Thakur, Chief Justice of India, directed the Centre to suspend the licenses of firecracker...

-The Times of India BHUBANESWAR: The state government has decided to help farmers to take up construction of pigsty under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). A farmer can construct piggery shelter of 21 square metre at a cost of Rs 50,000 for four pigs under the scheme to be executed by the panchayat samiti. This decision was taken in view of the breakout of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Malkangiri...