-PTI   The food ministry plans to augment wheat and rice procurement by 10 million tonnes to meet the expected demand for 70 million tonnes of foodgrain under the proposed National Food Security Act . "We have to increase the foodgrain procurement to 70 million tonnes in order to meet the requirement under the proposed bill," according to a senior official. The government buys around 60 million tonnes of wheat and...

Obituaries for the PDS system are a bit premature, based as they are on outdated data and presumptions. Despite flaws like pilfering and leakages, the system shows signs of improvement in certain states. States have demonstrated the political will to invest in the PDS, by putting in state resources to make it work. Cash transfers (CTs) are increasingly advocated as an alternative to the Public Distribution System (PDS). The proponents of...

The Government proposal to make cash transfer in place of food grain to poor families has drawn mixed reactions. Raghuvir Nagar on the western outskirts of Delhi has of late turned into a turf for a war between two schools of thought. The war has not been limited to campaigns and debates and purportedly escalated to the level of allegations, even intimidation, so much so that the Government of the national...

* It requires altering the distribution pattern * Permission from Centre needed for procuring additional quantum Implementation of the government decision to enhance the quantity of rice distributed through Public Distribution System outlets may be delayed as altering the distribution pattern followed by the previous administration and meeting the requirement as announced by Chief Minister N. Rangasamy is an arduous task. Immediately after Mr Rangasamy took charge as the Chief Minister on May...

-The Hindu   The Union government on Thursday lowered the age limit for the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAP) from 65 to 60 years, and increased pension for those above 80 from Rs. 200 to Rs. 500 a month. Both decisions will have retrospective effect from April 1, 2011. The lowering of age will benefit an additional 72.32 lakh people in the age group 60-64, entailing an additional burden of...