-The Times of India Food Corporation of India (FCI) has warned that unless the government can distribute 750 lakh tonnes of Food grain, there will be no storage space for the bumper harvest being currently procured, the Food ministry told Rajya Sabha on Monday. The crisis of plenty has been engaging the government for a while as it is under pressure to distribute Food grain to the poor or intervene in some...

What stops the government from using good harvests to reduce, if not eliminate, hunger? For ordinary folk, a 3 per cent increase in Food grain production over that of last year, combined with strong procurement operations and good buffer stocks of rice and wheat would be a cause for some celebration. It would be seen as an opportunity to tackle the widespread Food insecurity that exists in India today. Instead, we...

A parliamentary panel has sought to put strict safeguards on the government’s powers to acquire land and recommended that no plot under cultivation be taken away unless as a last resort. The recommendation — one of many on the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 — seeks to give a leg-up to Food security, but if accepted, could pose a challenge to the expansion of industries. “The concept of Food security...

The UPA II’s third anniversary on May 22 may witness a repackaging of old schemes, promises and achievements in the “Report to the people” as the government has little to show for 2011-12. Sources say the 13-chapter report struggles to contest the perception of policy paralysis by pointing out social-sector initiatives based primarily on welfare schemes launched during the UPA I regime or in the first year of UPA II. The government...

Cabinet clears change in divorce law: Women to get part of husband’s property In a move that could be a setback to land acquisition for commercial use, a parliamentary committee unanimously recommended that the government should not acquire land for industrial, commercial or for-profit enterprises or private companies. Instead, the panel, which has proposed legislation favouring landowners, recommends that private companies and public-private partnerships would have to buy land in the open...