-The Times of India Highlighting irregularities and delays in the issuing of BPL and ration cards, the CAG report has slammmed the food and supplies department for its functioning. The department’s failure to identify beneficiaries for its schemes, and under utilisation of foodgrains, kerosene oil and funds also find a mention in the report.  “It cannot be safely concluded that the food management system in Delhi was functioning in a transparent and...

-Live Mint   Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh is advocating a new approach to fighting the Maoist insurgency that has gripped 78 districts so far. Apart from development and security, the approach involves politics and justice, he said. In an interview, Ramesh warned that in the rush to attain high growth rates, India was placing the interests of tribals below that of mining firms. The minister suggested the setting up of a...

In a major shift in policy, the Centre now plans to confine food entitlement only to below poverty Line (BPL) households and completely exclude the existing category of the above poverty line families. This is one of the significant changes proposed in the National Food Security Bill which is currently being considered by the Parliamentary Standing Committee. Under the plan envisaged by the Centre, the task of identifying the BPL families will...

The 28th of May, marked as “World Hunger Day,” has come and gone but for Pannu Bai Bhil, every day is hunger day. How does someone dealing with chronic hunger view a day marking her plight? Let those of us who overeat at least take stock of a hungry India pitted against bumper crops, number crunching, technologies for profit, markets, and growth rates. The solution for hunger lies in proper...

-The Business Standard Are subsidised exports the only solution? Surely the intellect of a high-level inter-ministerial committee is not required to conclude that the subsidised export of wheat and the disposal of grain at discounted rates at home can help ease the current grain congestion. However, this seems indeed to be the conclusion reached by the high-level panel set up by the prime minister under the chairmanship of his Chief Economic...