When noted economist Jean Dreze visited Surguja in Chhattisgarh a decade ago, its utterly non-functional Public Distribution System (PDS) looked like especially “designed to fail.” The National Advisory Committee member has written in a recent article that the ration shop owners illegally sold the grain meant for the poor and “hunger haunted the land.” But that was then. The economist was pleasantly shocked to see the transformation this time. “Ten years...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Total Matching Records found : 1272
In Left-ruled Bengal, 97% PDS outlets pvt-owned: SC panel by Nitin Sethi
The Left parties may talk against privatization of the social sector but in their bastion, West Bengal, 97.5% of the anganwadis are served by contractors, 97% of the fair prices shops are privately owned, and the nutrition and food schemes are in disarray. These are the findings of the SC commissioners on food after their advisers conducted a survey of the state. The West Bengal report card looks dismal. About...
More »NAC in hurry, need more time: Rural ministry by Devesh Kumar
A conflict has risen between the National Advisory Council (NAC), chaired by Ms Sonia Gandhi, and the rural development ministry over the time-frame for completing the BPL census. NAC members N C Saxena and Harsh Mander, in particular, want the head count to be completed by September 2011. The rural development ministry has ruled out the possibility of conducting the census of BPL cardholders within such a short duration. It...
More »“Make PDS universal in naxal-affected districts” by Gargi Parsai
Participating in the second meeting of the Chief Ministers' Working Group on Food and Public Distribution here, Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday asked the Centre to make the public distribution system (PDS) universal in the Left-Wing Extremism-affected districts, as well as, all Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste families living in tribal areas to do away with “errors of exclusion.” Mr. Singh is a member of the working group, set...
More »Unwelcome surprise by Jayati Ghosh
In pushing for a greatly truncated PDS, the Food Security Bill proposed by the NAC, which has many right-to-food activists, undermines the PDS itself. ENSURING food security was the big promise of United Progressive Alliance-2. The promise to enact legislation to ensure a minimum quantity of affordable food to all poor households in the country was part of the election manifesto of the Congress party that leads the government. The 100-day...
More »
