-The Hindu   “Surveys leading to move are misleading, towing a pre-planned agenda” Opposing the Delhi Government's move to extend a pilot project in the Capital for providing cash subsidies in place of subsidised Foodgrains for the needy, a group of non-government organisations led by social activist Arvind Kejriwal has said the decision is “questionable” and that the surveys conducted ahead of the project's implementation were “misleading”. One of these surveys conducted by...

The National Advisory Council has proposed a framework for the National Food Security Act. But its potential could be wasted by a flawed approach to the PDS. Two years have passed since the Central government announced that a draft National Food Security Act (NFSA) would be posted on the Food Ministry's website “very soon.” After prolonged deliberations, a detailed framework for this Act has recently been proposed by the National Advisory...

-Express News Service   A Delhi government pilot study to test waters in the cash-for-food scheme is facing stiff resistance. NGO Parivartan, led by RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, raised questions on Thursday about the move. Another NGO, which has been entrusted with the pilot study, has, meanwhile, alleged that Parivartan workers have threatened the families who are part of the study. The pilot study, involving 500 households in Raghubir Nagar, West Delhi, is...

Various civil society groups and NGOs Thursday came together to oppose the Delhi government’s plan to give cash instead of ration to the city’s poor through the Public Distribution System (PDS). The activists said the government had taken the decision in haste. ‘We had gone to meet (Chief Minister) Sheila Dikshit yesterday, but she did not listen to us at all. Instead, she screamed at us and threatened to put us in...

The Sheila Dikshit government is ready to shut PDS shops in Delhi, ringing the death knell for not only the poor but also the middle class because black marketers will have a free run said Arvind Kejriwal, civil society activist and founder of Parivartan. Instead, the government proposes that Rs 1,000 be deposited in the bank accounts of the women of BPL families for buying Foodgrain. Even though PDS is not...