The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has decided to stick to its recommendations on the Food Security Act which have been turned down by a committee headed by PM's chief economic adviser C Rangarajan. The NAC has released the version of the Bill it has drafted to explain that its recommendations on the size of population to be covered by the Food Security Act were feasible. The Rangarajan committee has cited food...
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NAC won't give in, takes battle into public domain by Smita Gupta
The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has decided to take its battle with the government on the now-controversial issue of food security into the public domain. Eight days after the Rangarajan panel, appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, rejected its recommendations on food security, the NAC has decided to dig in its heels, reflecting, council sources said, “Ms. Gandhi's determination to go ahead.” Indeed, on Friday, the NAC, at its ninth...
More »NAC meets today to discuss key policy issues
The Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council will meet on Friday for the second time this month. It will consider a number of issues, including the Rangarajan panel’s recommendations on the draft food security bill. The high-profile policy advisory body, headed by the United Progressive Alliance chairperson , may formulate its response to the governmentappointed Rangarajan panel’s recommendations, which were seen as diluting the NAC’s vision of the scope of legally binding...
More »Don’t water down food security by Milind Murugkar
There comes a moment in the life of a nation when small differences of opinion are responsible for missing a historic opportunity that the nation may come to regret forever. The regret is greater when realisation strikes later that what seemed like irreconcilable differences could have been easily bridged with a little foresight. We are in such a moment now. The food security bill is a bold measure of historic importance...
More »From inadequate to appalling
It was bad enough that the National Advisory Council in its recommendation of October 2010 proposed a food security bill that diluted the principle of a universal right to food. It is appalling now that the C. Rangarajan Committee seeks to truncate that proposal, and legally establish a narrowly targeted public distribution system on the grounds of feasibility. Their argument is a false argument for more reasons than one. First,...
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