-The Business Standard   Orissa has voiced its opposition to the caps proposed in the targeted Public Distribution System (PDS) in the National Food Security (NFS) Bill-2011. The NFS Bill has proposed a cap of 75 per cent in rural areas and 50 per cent in urban areas on the coverage under targeted PDS. The state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, while welcoming the concept of food security, has objected to fixing limits on targeted...

-PTI   The Food Ministry has moved a Cabinet note on the National food security bill which aims to provide legal entitlement to subsidised foodgrains to two- third of the country's population, sources said. The proposed bill, which would cost the government exchequer Rs 94,973 crore a year in subsidies, may be taken up for the Cabinet discussion soon as the Centre is keen on introducing it in the ongoing session of...

-The United Nations    Ensuring global food security while striving to save the Planet from damage are the greatest challenges of this century, a senior United Nations official said today, stressing the need to enable smallholder farmers to become more resilient to climate change and to produce more food in ways that are environmentally sustainable. “There is no trade-off between feeding people and saving our Planet,” said Kanayo F. Nwanze, the President of...

Up to three-fourths of villagers and half of city dwellers will be entitled to subsidised food grains under a new bill, with the Centre refusing to budge on the volume of grain entitlement and continuing with upper limits for beneficiaries. The National food security bill, redrafted on the basis of feedback from states and civil society groups, will soon be sent to the cabinet so that it can be introduced in...

Cutting across party lines, several members of Parliament backed a universal public distribution system to ensure food security for all citizens “as a right” and vowed to oppose the ‘targeted' food security bill in Parliament. Among the participants at a Jan Manch organised by the Right to Food Campaign were G. Vivekananda, K. Keshava Rao and Mani Shankar Aiyer (Congress), Prakash Javadekar (BJP), Brinda Karat and P. Rajeev (CPI-M), D. Raja...