-The Guardian A landmark bill to make the right to food a legal entitlement is mired in controversy over its failure to address a flawed public food distribution system, misplaced priorities and exclusions India has an over abundance of food grains stocked in warehouses, yet millions of India's poor are left without food. Development practitioners and NGOs are in favour of disbanding the current food security system, the public distribution system (PDS),...
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The Food Security Debate in India -Jean Drèze
-The New York Times Blog The right to food is finally becoming a lively political issue in India. Aware of the forthcoming national elections in 2014, political parties are competing to demonstrate - or at least proclaim - their commitment to food security. In a country where endemic undernutrition has been accepted for too long as natural, this is a breakthrough of sorts. The rhetoric, however, is not always matched by understanding...
More »The modest food security Bill-Jean Drèze
-The Business Standard The right to food is finally becoming a lively political issue in India. Aware of the forthcoming general elections, parties are competing to demonstrate - or at least proclaim - their commitment to food security. In a country where endemic undernutrition has been accepted for too long as natural, this is a breakthrough of sorts. The food security Bill is a modest initiative. It consolidates various food-related programmes and...
More »Unpalatable truths -K Srinath Reddy
-The Hindustan Times The recent release of The Lancet's special edition on Maternal and Child Nutrition in Delhi provided an occasion to debate the relevance of its recommendations for India. The discourse was enlivened by a statement, released ahead of the event by several Indian health experts, challenging the content and intent of some of the suggested interventions. Three authors of The Lancet series and many of the critics who issued that statement...
More »India has no data on its nutritional status
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India has the highest number as well as proportion of children who are underweight and who suffer from stunting. And yet, India has no current data on the nutritional status of its population. The data available is almost a decade old since the national family health survey, which collects nutritional data, was last done in 2005-06. Global and national academicians, researchers and experts in nutrition decried...
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