The food ministry has prepared a new food security bill, reworking an earlier version and reconciling what had been “promised to the people” by the ruling Congress and the government’s fiscal constraints, MoS for agriculture KV Thomas has told HT. In August last year, the UPA government had pulled the plug on a previous draft, after it was found wanting by the Congress leadership. The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, which oversees...
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World food prices set to remain high-FAO
High and volatile agricultural commodity prices are likely to prevail for the rest of this year and into 2012 according to the latest analysis published today in FAO's biannual Food Outlook. The report cites a sharp rundown on inventories and only modest overall production increases for the majority of crops as reasons for continuing strong prices. The next few months will be critical in determining how the major crops will fare this...
More »World grain output to rise on more planting & better yields
-Reuters World cereals output is expected to rise to a new record in 2011 due to more planting and improved yields but low stocks are set to keep prices high, the United Nations’ food agency said. Global cereals output is expected to rise 3.5% to 2.315 billion tonne this year, recovering after a 1% fall in 2010, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Tuesday in its first estimate...
More »India's welfare programmes are not very good at reaching the poorest of the poor: World Bank by M Rajshekhar
How effective are India's innumerable social security programmes at reaching out to the poorest of the poor? If a recent World Bank report is anything to go by, they are woefully inefficient. According to the report, titled "Social Protection for a Changing India", leakages and exclusion errors are endemic across the country. For instance, just 27% of the PDS . beenficiaries are the poorest of the poor. The World Bank found...
More »NAC sticks to old stand on rural coverage under food Bill by Sanjeeb Mukherjee
Differences between United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) and the government over the coverage of the proposed Food Security Act refuses to die. NAC recently came out with its own draft on the Food Security Bill sticking to its position after the food ministry’s draft diluted the Council’s recommendations on coverage of families in rural areas. The NAC draft has maintained the coverage of 90 per...
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