-The Hindu India's growth story of the last two decades has had one recurring theme: that the pattern of economic growth is accentuating insecurities. Yet, there continues to be a deep divide over whether the gains from growth ought to be ploughed back to achieve social security for everyone. Social security has come to be linked to job benefits, tying it to one's status as a worker in the formal or...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Food Corporation of India (FCI) should focus on procuring grains from eastern states such as Bengal, Bihar and Assam where the second green revolution is expected, a government panel said today. "The FCI should move on to help those states where farmers suffer from distress sales at prices much below MSP (minimum support price), and which are dominated by small holdings, such as eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,...

-Economic and Political Weekly This paper, based on an empirical study in Chhattisgarh and Gujarat, attempts to examine the land and livelihood facets of forest dependent people following the claims made by them under the Forest Rights Act. It also touches upon factors influencing livelihoods such as source of irrigation, crop yield, forest produce collection, and livestock holdings to examine the respondents' socio-economic conditions. The findings revealed that the land received...

-The Financial Express   Senior BJP leader and former food minister Shanta Kumar, who headed a high-level committee on restructuring Food Corporation of India, on Thursday termed the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 as ‘vote security' legislation that would lead to massive diversion of grains from the public distribution system (PDS). "Prior to the passage of the food security act, we had expressed reservation on providing highly subsidised foodgrains to 67% of...

-The Indian Express The National Food Security Act (NFSA) passed during the previous UPA regime's tenure was more about "vote security" than "food security", according to Shanta Kumar, BJP MP and chairman of the high level committee on Restructuring the Food Corporation of India (FCI). Defending his committee's recommendation to bring down the coverage of the NFSA from 67 per cent to around 40 per cent of the country's population, Kumar claimed...