The National Advisory Council is still working on the amount of grain to be distributed to each family under the Food Security Act. It will hold consultations with ministries of rural development and food and the Planning Commission before it firms up its suggestions for the proposed legislation. The panel, which met on Monday, considered the economic cost of various options to meet the goal of food security. The NAC...

The government proposes to set up a national commission for human resources in health to plan for the adequate availability of human resource for health over the next 20 years. ‘‘We are also considering the establishment of a national commission for human resources in health (NCHRH) to be set up as an umbrella organisation addressing all aspects of human resource development in the health sector,’’ Union minister of health and family...

A week after the Ministry of Environment and Forests threw the Vedanta Aluminium project in Orissa into doldrums by denying final stage forest clearance, the fate of the 12 million tonne per annum steel project by Korean steelmaker Posco appears to be bleak after the ministry widened the ambit of the Meena Gupta panel looking into the steel project. In July this year, the MoEF had formed a four-member panel headed by...

Before cheap food for all, a reality check on the bill. The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council will draft the food security law only after talking to the various ministries to get a “realistic” idea of the cost to the government. A fully universal food law already seems unlikely after the government and the Planning Commission questioned how feasible such a move would be in the current fiscal and agricultural situations. Today’s council...

The area under turmeric cultivation in Erode district has almost doubled this year because of the high price it fetches in the market. Farmers have cultivated turmeric in over 9,500 hectares of land till date. Normally turmeric is cultivated in about 5,000 to 6,000 hectares in the district. Cultivation “The price of the yellow spice has been hovering around Rs. 15,000 a quintal for the last few months. This has encouraged farmers to...