India’s public distribution system has limited benefits due to huge leakage and wastage, World Bank said on Tuesday. It also recommended cash transfer as an alternative to provide subsidised food for the poor. “No country in the world has a well-functioning PDS system. India is no exception,” World Bank said in its report Social Protection for a changing India that was launched here Tuesday. “The public distribution system continues to absorb substantial...

The World Bank has backed a controversial proposal to replace foodgrain allotment under the public distribution system with a system of direct cash transfer. The bank, which supports social security schemes in India, today said poverty reduction had been low and overall returns on spending to eradicate poverty had “not reached their full potential”. It attributed the low reduction to “high leakage” in the PDS system and its weak implementation mechanism. Earlier,...

The Empowered Group of Ministers is likely to meet soon to consider a proposal from the Agriculture Ministry to allow wheat exports in the wake of bumper production. "The EGoM is expected to meet in a week or 10 days," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said here today. The ministers panel is headed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and comprises Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar , Commerce and Industry Minister...

Everyone knows how much food prices have risen in the last few years. Not everyone, however, knows how much costs have spiralled for those who produce the food you and I eat. Data on daily wage rates for agricultural operations, compiled by the Labour Bureau at Shimla, show huge increases to have taken place in most States during 2009 and 2010. Andhra Pradesh, for instance, has seen farm wage rates – the...

The chairman of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), Ashok Gulati, is a well-known proponent of reforms and an agricultural economist with diverse experience. Prior to taking charge of CACP, he was the International Food Policy Research Institute director in Asia. In an interview, Gulati spoke about the urgency for initiating reforms in the agricultural sector and made a strong case for intervention to check falling wheat prices either...