The new formula for the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA) arrived at by a meeting of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (nac) on Wednesday has attracted the criticism of activists of the Right to Food Campaign, who say it is full of ambiguities and leaves many issues wide open. They feel nac should have set a time frame for universalisation of the public distribution system. While the council specified...

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...

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) on Wednesday moved a step closer to introducing its ambitious food security legislation after the coalition’s political leadership agreed to restrict the proposed universal public distribution system (PDS) to the poorest of the poor in the initial phase. Members of the National Advisory Council, or nac, which serves as the political interface between the government and the Congress party and is chaired by Congress president...

The National Advisory Council (nac) met the Food Ministry halfway on Wednesday, when it recommended extension of universal food entitlements to one-fourth of either the poorest districts or the poorest blocks in the country. This decision emerged after some nac members pointed out that universalisation of food security would not be possible, given the current state of agricultural productivity and the level of grain procurement. However, they agreed that the implementation...

The HRD ministry wants the midday meal (MDM) scheme to become a part of the proposed National Food Security Bill. The National Advisory Council (nac), which is to meet here on Wednesday, has been trying to walk a tightrope between the politically advantageous act that brings in all nutrition schemes under its ambit and the overall foodgrain supply situation across the country. The nac meeting is expected to see a...