-DNA The department for consumer affairs, food and public distribution held three meetings through video conferencing with officials of all states In order to check foodgrain pilferage from PDS shops and ensure delivery of the benefits food security, the Government on Monday came out with detailed guidelines for social audit of the central scheme. A ministry official told DNA that in order to ensure transparency in the implementation of the PDS, the...

Confirming the rising trend of prevalence of wasting (i.e. too thin for height) among children below 5 years of age, a new report on the state of global hunger shows that during 2017 India ranks 100th among 119 countries in terms of Global Hunger Index (GHI). Entitled 2017 Global Hunger Index: The Inequalities of Hunger, the report indicates that the neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 7.5; GHI rank:...

-TheWire.in ICDS plays a vital role in a country which is home to 190 million undernourished people – the highest in the world. Is the government of India planning to dismantle the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme, the world’s largest food security project? The ICDS is a unique outreach programme to meet the nutritional needs of ten crore Indian children under the age of six and to improve the nutrition levels of...

-Press release from NREGA Sangharsh Morcha For the past five days, hundreds of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) workers and their supporters from across the country have gathered at Jantar Mantar to demand the implementation of the employment guarantee act in letter and spirit. They are demanding a substantial increase in the NREGA wages, timely payment of wages, implementation of local plans, expansion of existing entitlements and adequate budget for...

-Hindustan Times After Tamil Nadu’s pioneering Amma canteens, many states have started community kitchens, such as Karnataka’s Indira Canteens. This is a welcome development. The first coverage of the recently inaugurated “Indira canteens” in Karnataka that I noticed were two reports on television channels. Both were poking fun (justifiably) at Rahul Gandhi’s goofy speech at the launch. Sadly though, neither commented on the rationale or importance of the Karnataka government’s initiative. This...