-The Telegraph Chennai: If the way into voters’ hearts is through their stomachs, Jayalalithaa appears to have come up with the right recipe. A chain of low-cost canteens, opened recently in Chennai as a “brainchild” of the Tamil Nadu chief minister, has whetted appetites at a time of rising food prices. Idlis at Re 1 each, sambar-rice at Rs 5 and curd-rice at Rs 3 — the Chennai Municipal Corporation-run canteens that offer...
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Shut away from all human rights
-The Hindustan Times West Bengal's Dum Dum Central Jail could put the notorious Abu Ghraib in a shade going by some of the disturbing incidents which have taken place there recently. A mere request for better food earned Bikram Mahato, undergoing trial for murder, a severe beating after which he was handcuffed and kept naked in a cell. And this is not an isolated incident in this jail. When Mahato had...
More »Food for all, by law not largesse-Akshai Jain
-Tehelka The National Food Security Act is probably going to undergo many changes before it is presented in Parliament. But everyone seems to agree that it’s time has come Towards the end of January, a few days after Republic Day and a little over a week after the Congress’s conclave in Jaipur, large half-page advertisements appeared in major newspapers: “Celebrating the 63rd year anniversary of our Republic by putting food on everybody’s...
More »FDI in retail will touch only 13.3% of population, Centre tells SC -Dhananjay Mahapatra
-The Times of India The Union government downplayed the opposition's concern over allowing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail and informed the Supreme Court on Friday that the policy, when fully implemented, would touch the lives of only 13.3% of the country's population living in 53 cities. The government said its policy on FDI in multi-brand retail stipulated that retail sales outlets could be set up only in cities with a population...
More »'Food bill to cost 2.38L cr/yr'-Subodh Varma
-The Times of India How much would it cost the central government to provide grain to the whole country at affordable prices? A calculation by the Delhi-based advocacy group Centre for Budget & Governance Accountability (CBGA) puts the figure at Rs 2,38,471 crore for one year. In the current financial year (2012-13), the Centre spent Rs 75,366 crore on the food subsidy, that is, about 0.74% of the gross domestic product....
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