The case of the Food Security Bill gets curiouser and curiouser.  What started off as a fight between universalization and targeting has ended (or so it would seem) in a complete victory in the National Advisory Council, Government of India (NAC) for targeting through universalization (if such a thing was possible), with the honourable exception of Prof Jean Dreze, who has to be commended for his ‘note of disagreement’. On...

The Supreme Court Friday asked the central government why foodgrains it had procured but could not preserve because of inadequate storage capacity could not be given to the poor. "Procurement of adequate foodgrains is essential to provide food security and to protect the interest of the farmers. All through our anxiety has been that the procured foodgrains be properly preserved," said the bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Deepak Verma. However,...

'The creaky PDS will not be able to do the job.'  The recommendations of the National Advisory Council for the National Food Security Act, made after much discussion and many revisions, cast the net wide to include 75 per cent of the country’s population within the purview of the scheme.It is the most ambitious  food entitlement scheme conceived anywhere in the world and the conceptual and implementation problems are very daunting....

The Food and Civil Supplies Department has ordered an inquiry into the alleged black marketing of fortified atta (wheat flour) meant for distribution through the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Ahmedabad. PDS store managers in Danilimda, Juhapura, Piplag, Santoshnagar, Meghaninagar, Shah Alam, Gomtipur and Vasna-Sorainagar have reportedly sold off ration items, especially fortified flour meant for the poor, to eateries, hotels and grocery stores in the city. F L Ghalchar, Deputy Controller,...

Will UPA-II's ambitious food security programme work? The issue gains immediacy, with the National Advisory Council unveiling a new draft plan envisaging legal entitlement to subsidised foodgrain for at least 75 per cent of the population. That works out to almost 800 million people. If implemented, this means the government's food subsidy bill will be far bigger. Also, our groaning public distribution system will come under greater strain. Now, central...