-The Indian Express India should not allow one emergency — the pandemic — to turn into another. Food security problems are not abating and there are clear steps that should be taken before it is too late. In the early days of India’s lockdown, stories of food insecurity were rampant. As “Unlock 2.0” progresses, many analysts hope that labour markets will provide the much needed economic resources to the vulnerable. But amidst...
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Foodgrain stocks fall marginally despite PMGKAY -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express For July 1, the normative minimum stocks to run the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) and other welfare schemes, plus maintain a strategic reserve over and above that, are 27.58 mt of wheat and 13.54 mt of rice. Despite efforts at disposing of surplus foodgrains – including by distributing these free under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) and a special scheme for migrant labourers returning to...
More »That foodgrain stocks lie in public godowns while people are going hungry is a scandal -Dipa Sinha
-The Indian Express What is disturbing is that in the middle of the current crisis some are now calling for a massive downsizing of the PDS and a shift to cash transfers in place of foodgrains. The Public Distribution System has played an important role in providing relief to people in the aftermath of the national lockdown. With COVID-19 cases increasing and the economy continuing to be in a downturn, some corrective...
More »Mitigating malnutrition -Dr. Pavitra Mohan and Dr Sanjana Brahmawar Mohan
-IDROnline.org In response to the food crisis created by the lockdown, here’s what anganwadis can do to ensure that children stay nourished in times of COVID-19 and beyond. Two-year old Rameela* lives in Nayaghar, 100 km from Udaipur and 35 km from the nearest town. For nearly three months now, Rameela has received a tiffin every morning, filled with sattu (a porridge made from cereals, pulses, sugar, and oil) and khichdi (a...
More »India let 65 lakh tonnes of grain go to waste in four months, even as the poor went hungry -Vikas Rawal, Manish Kumar, Ankur Verma and Jesim Pais
-Scroll.in ‘In a period when people have been dying of hunger, the government has increased the amount of grain it is hoarding in its godowns.’ Instead of using its grain stocks to feed the poor and hungry during the coronavirus-lockdown crisis, the Indian government is letting this food rot in its godowns. The government does not have proper storage facilities for stocking such a large amount of excess grain. Since much of...
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