On Wednesday, the National Advisory Council turned UPA's election promises into firm deliverables under the National Food Security Bill. That was a tough one to resolve itself. But it's a job half done as yet. The Sonia Gandhi-led NAC is now going to get into a much more difficult arena. It has to figure out provisions for the act that hold administration and bureaucracy accountable for delivery and also ensure...

The 1,600 families in Haryana’s Panchkula district which line up at fair price shops for foodgrains and kerosene can do away with their prized ration cards, pieces of paper that entitle the poor to subsidized food and fuel. Beginning Tuesday, while they still have to queue up, these families will receive their rations after a biometric identification using smart cards. That’s a small beginning for an ambitious Rs138 crore Centrally funded project...

The proposed food security law is expected to kick in by next April for a year in one-fourth — or 200 — of the country’s poorest districts or blocks, depending on whichever is administratively tenable. The proposal — agreed upon by the National Advisory Council (NAC) — is tactically aimed at pleasing food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar as well as others in the government, Planning Commission and the advisory panel...

Ultimately, the answer lies in increasing farm production and productivity The Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, C. Rangarajan, on Tuesday suggested that people Above the Poverty Line (APL) could be considered for the mandatory food security scheme by limiting the subsidised foodgrains entitlement of Below the Poverty line (BPL) beneficiaries to 30 kg per month per family (instead of 35 kg). “An alternative is to give the...

In April, India’s Planning Commission accepted recommendations put forth by the so-called Tendulkar Committee on a new poverty headcount for the country. Constituted by the Planning Commission under economist Suresh D Tendulkar, the committee, after four years and a new methodology, arrived at a new figure for the number of Indians living below the poverty line: 37.2 percent, ten points higher than the previous official figure. With the government’s subsequent...