The framework for food security, cleared by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council on Saturday, if implemented, will entail an additional expenditure of Rs.15,137 crore annually in the first phase. It is slated to kick off next year and will cost Rs. 23,231 crore annually when the entire population is covered by March 2014. Assuming an offtake of 85-90 per cent, the procurement will have to go up from 55 million...
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NAC's compromise proposes wider food security coverage by Smita Gupta
The National Advisory Council (NAC) — which has been working hard over the last month to try and narrow down its differences with the Planning Commission and the government on the contentious issue of food security — is meeting here on Saturday to look at an amended proposal. The NAC's food hardliners have finally accepted, after several informal interactions with the Commission and government representatives, that universalisation of food security...
More »NREGA wages fight gathers steam by Anindo Dey
Seventy-year-old Dau Singh is dancing to the tune of a parody music being belted out in the background by a group of people sitting on the pavement. The song urges people to write letters to their brethren and come there to join the fight. "Come on mazdoors, get into the act to get what you deserve," urges the song. The venue is the Statue Circle in Jaipur, where hundreds of...
More »Prabhat Patnaik, Professor at CESP, Jawaharlal Nehru University and vice-chairman of the Planning Board of Kerala interviewed by R Krishna
Last month, leaders from 185 countries met in New York to take stock of progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — which include, among other things, eradicating poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health — that were set in 2000 by the United Nations. The aim was to achieve these goals by 2015. But 10 years down the line, the world is way behind targets in achieving...
More »Losing their nerve? by Jean Dreze
Five years ago, when the proposed National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was a subject of fierce controversy, Bunker Roy compared the attitude of the government to that of a dog who crosses a road half-way, can’t decide whether to go forward or backward, and gets run over. This enlightening image applies again today, in the context of the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA). The National Advisory Council (NAC) discussed...
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