Could India's mock war on poverty ever turn real? India became independent 63 years ago. Since Independence the country has implemented 10 Five Year Plans and a few Annual Plans. Currently the 11th Plan is being executed. Efforts made during the last six decades have resulted in the modernisation of a stagnant economy and India's emergence as a major industrial power. This period also witnessed remarkable progress in agricultural production. But India...
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Introduce competition in PDS: Basu
India needs to introduce competition in the public distribution system (PDS) for its ambitious food-for- all programme to work, according to country's chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu. In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Basu outlines that if the government tries to provide food security through the present system, it will need to procure 140 million tonne of foodgrain. “The agriculture ministry has given some estimates that 62 million is what you...
More »No right to food yet! by Praful Bidwai
India has missed a historic opportunity to abolish hunger through a universal public distribution system (PDS), which entitles all citizens to affordable food. The National Advisory Council (NAC), a progressive body established by the United Progressive Alliance, was to draft such a law, but has recommended a Bill which greatly reduces the public's entitlements. This is a setback. India's annual per capita cereal consumption has fallen to 174 kg, lower than...
More »Jean Dreze, Development Economist interviewed by Vaibhav Vats
The Food Security Act was UPA-2’s flagship programme. Jean Dreze, member of the National Advisory Council, has publicly criticised the government. He tells VAIBHAV VATS what’s gone wrong. Much like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in the first term of the United Progressive Alliance, the Food Security Act was its most ambitious social welfare programme. Since discussions on the Act in the National Advisory Council began, its provisions...
More »Denial of grain to 7cr poor families: SC seeks answers
The SC on Friday wanted to know Centre’s response to a petitioner’s allegation that over 7 crore below poverty line (BPL) families have been left out of the ambit of the public distribution system (PDS) and deprived of subsidised foodgrains. A Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma asked Attorney General G E Vahanvati, who was busy in another court, to respond to this charge by November 11. Petitioner NGO...
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