AGRICULTURE minister Sharad Pawar has launched smart cards in Haryana and Chandigarh as a pilot project aimed at streamlining the public distribution system (PDS). Smart cards will replace paper cards and the subsidised ration bought at fair price shops (FPS) will be recorded online. The smart card will have biometric identification details of the beneficiary like fingerprints and iris scans. A smart card will also record the amount of stock a...
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Rlys extends helping hand to FCI in lifting stocks from Punjab, Haryana by Praveen Kumar Singh
Indian Railways has come to Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) rescue in flood-hit Punjab and Haryana, where part of its foodgrain stocks have been rotting due to heavy rains. The national transporter has given a discount of 35% to the public sector food procurer to carry grains from northern India to other parts of the country. The railways also expects to boost its own revenue by transporting a large volume of...
More »Harsh ground realities could trip RTE vision by Cordelia Jenkins
In an upstairs classroom at a residential school in Mal, near Lucknow, the girls are revising for their exams. As the light starts to fade at the glassless windows, each girl takes a brightly coloured plastic lamp and carries it to her space on the floor. There is no electricity, but the lamps are solar powered. They have been donated jointly by Swedish company Ikea and the United Nations Children’s...
More »Who’s Afraid of Caste Census? by Kancha Ilaiah
Ever since the Centre announced that it would collect data on various castes during the ongoing Census, the media has created a hue and cry saying that this would harm the nation and open a Pandora’s Box of caste conflicts. On the other hand, those who seek caste enumeration are of the view that this would clear the cobwebs and deliver proper data on other backward classes (OBCs) that will...
More »UN agency opens up access to largest database of hunger statistics
The world’s largest and most comprehensive database on food, agriculture and hunger is now open to the public, free of charge, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today. Previously, it was possible to download a limited amount of information from FAOSTAT, but access to large amounts of data required a paid annual subscription. The database contains over one million data points covering more than 200 countries and territories. Hafez Ghanem,...
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