The government plans to expand the basket of subsidised food items supplied to the poor by adding edible oil, sugar and pulses to wheat and rice provided currently, as it looks to ensure complete nutrition to the deprived. The proposal is expected to be discussed at the July 24 meeting of National Development Council, a body of state chief ministers chaired by the Prime Minister. The idea was mooted by...
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Food security — of APL, BPL & IPL by P Sainath
The official line is simple. Since we cannot afford to feed all the hungry, there must only be as many hungry as we can afford to feed. There was irony in the timing of the petrol price decontrol order. The decision, which also covered major hikes in diesel and kerosene prices, and affects hundreds of millions of people, came even as Manmohan Singh advised world leaders in Toronto on the need...
More »Govt to appoint ombudsman for MNREGS
The State Government has announced that it will be appointing ombudsman to monitor the works taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister Jagadish Shettar, answering a query by S R Patil (Cong) in the Karnataka Legislative Council said that a vigilance committee as well as the ombudsman will be appointed to look into the problems. Patil, during the question hour,...
More »HRD panel to oversee RTE rollout by Akshaya Mukul
This National Advisory Council might not be as powerful as its namesake and as freewheeling in its mandate, but it will oversee the implementation of the Right to Education, the single most important intervention in the field of education since independence. HRD minister Kapil Sibal, who will be the ex-officio chairperson of this 14-member NAC, has cleared the names of eight members. They are Kiran Karnik, former president of NASSCOM;...
More »UN agency calls for more support for its school feeding programmes
School feeding programmes, which provide meals so that millions of children in poor countries can attend classes, can be broadened to reach even more pupils with the help of donors and partnerships, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today as it called for increased international support. Nancy Walters, the chief of school feeding policy at WFP, told a New York forum on hunger that the programmes have many...
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