-The Hindu Activists attribute trend to improved functioning of service. New official data show that the proportion of Indian households using the Public Distribution System has nearly doubled over seven years. These households are relying more on the PDS and less on open market sources than before. The National Sample Survey Organisation’s report on the ‘Public Distribution System and Other Sources of Household Consumption’ was released last week and looks at findings from...
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Cutting the Food Act to the bone -Biraj Patnaik
-The Hindu Two years after vociferously arguing for an expansion of the provisions of the National Food Security Act, the BJP in government is bleeding it with a thousand cuts, both fiscal and otherwise When Parliament passed the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013, it had already become one of the most debated pieces of legislation in decades. Those for and against it had fought it out across yards of space...
More »All ears for farm reforms -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express One area that has seen some reform, though, relates to minimum support prices (MSP) payable on official paddy and wheat purchases. The “perfect storm” kicked up by extreme weather events and lower crop price realisations — not to mention the political backlash resulting from its controversial land acquisition ordinance — has meant that the first year of the Modi sarkar has gone by without any major reforms in...
More »Cash for Food--A Misplaced Idea -Dipa Sinha
-Economic and Political Weekly Direct benefi t transfers in the form of cash cannot replace the supply of food through the public distribution system. Though it is claimed otherwise, DBT does not address the problems of identifying the poor ("targeting") and DBT in place of the PDS will expose the vulnerable to additional price fluctuation. Further, if the PDS is dismantled, there will also be no need or incentive for procurement...
More »Odisha sees red at cash transfer plan -Subrat Das
-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The state government has opposed the Shanta Kumar Committee's recommendation for direct cash transfer through the public distribution system (PDS) instead of subsidised food grain supply to the beneficiaries. Officially, the state's opposition is based on the argument that cash transfer would affect farmers, as procurement from them would stop. However, sources said the state was worried about the move's fallout on its scheme providing rice to the poor...
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