Direct cash transfers or Food coupons should be used by the government to provide services to the poor, says Farzana Afridi, Assistant Professor, Economics and Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi. Afridi, who obtained her PhD in economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an MA in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, says that although the Mid Day Meal Programme is having a substantial effect, the...

-The Telegraph Patna: Farmers in Bihar have set their sights on foreign funds for a change in their fortune though economists have cast a doubt on it. Ask Nitish Kumar, a farmer of Darveshpura village in Nalanda district, who hogged the limelight a couple of months ago with record production of potatoes. Nitish had no one by his side when he was forced to go for distress sale of the same potato, which...

-The Times of India PANAJI: Three cases of Food poisoning were reported back-to-back last year after students consuming midday meals. This has forced authorities to keep a close watch on midday meal suppliers as well as school staff. The Union human resource development ministry began quarterly monitoring of the implementation of the midday meal scheme in states and Union territories across the country since June last year. Goa has registered huge improvements...

-PTI Bombay High Court today upheld the ban on gutkha and pan masala in Maharashtra. The court, hearing pleas filed by gutkha and pan masala makers, said the tobacco flavoured products fell within the definition of “Food” and hence the commissioner of Food and Drugs Administration has the power to ban them. A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Nitin Jamdar ordered the state government not to destroy the seized...

-The United Nations Argentina’s announcement that it would export an additional 2.75 million tonnes of maize this year will help ease tight international markets, the United Nations Food agency said today, adding that while this is a welcome measure, countries must remain vigilante to avoid a global Food crisis. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the announcement was made by Argentina’s Minister of Agriculture, Norberto Yauhar, who had just...