-Down to Earth Buffer stock of wheat and rice in Food Corporation of India godowns double the normal The Union government has procured and stored record amount of food grain since 2018. Yet, farmers have not been getting a fair price for their crop. And a huge part of the country’s population is unable to access the food grains. Meanwhile, the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has recommended the Union government...
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Lessons from India’s food security response -Bishow Parajuli
-The Hindu Government measures to tackle the food crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic were effective With a reduction in COVID-19 infections as the second wave weakens in India, it is important to focus on the pandemic’s disruptive impact on the food security and livelihoods of the poor and marginalised. The deadly virus has been around for two years and it is not clear as to how and when it will end. However, we...
More »Calculating the benefits of lockdowns -Dipankar Dasgupta
-The Hindu Lockdowns need to be guided by trade-offs between harsh and mild policies Data show that as of now 26.2% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Of them, only 1% live in low-income countries. By contrast, the richer nations, such as the U.S., Canada, Germany and Britain, registered above 50% vaccination by July 17. For India, the percentage of the adult population that...
More »Making Ethanol from Rice Hurts India’s Poor -Soma Marla
-Newsclick.in Government must explore non-conventional resources to achieve energy security. Its current policy to blend ethanol and biodiesel helps the biofuel industry at the cost of food security. In a recent press conference, the Union Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said that in 2020-21 the Centre allocated about 78,000 tonnes of rice from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) stocks to distilleries to produce ethanol. The distilleries got rice at a subsidised Rs.20...
More »Anjali Bhardwaj, transparency activist and founder of the Delhi-based Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), interviewed by Shreehari Paliath (IndiaSpend.com)
-IndiaSpend.com To fight hunger and distress due to the pandemic, India must universalise foodgrain distribution, expand the food basket in its rations scheme and provide cash transfers, activist Anjali Bhardwaj tells us in this interview Bengaluru: The pandemic-induced lockdowns have had a profound impact on livelihoods, affecting poor Indians' food intake, studies show. In October 2020, more than half the respondents of a Hunger Survey said their rice/wheat consumption had declined during...
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