-The Business Standard   The new Bill will set back the cause of food security - while wrecking central finances. The Food Security Bill cleared by the Union Cabinet for introduction in Parliament seems irrational and impractical by parts. It seeks to provide a statutory right to highly-subsidised food for 75 per cent of the rural population, with 46 per cent in the “priority” category, or below the poverty line (BPL); and to...

The central government claims that allowing foreign direct investment into India’s retail sector will benefit small farmers, expand employment and lower food inflation. What has been the experience in India with organised retail so far and what has been the global experience with FDI? Sukhpal Singh (sukhpal@iegindia.org) is currently at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. After being under relentless attack for a week, the United Progressiv Alliance government was forced to...

-Express News Service In a major step towards fulfilling the ruling Congress’s poll promise, the Union Cabinet today cleared the National Food Security Bill that seeks to provide legal entitlement of foodgrain to 75 per cent of the rural population and up to 50 per cent of the urban population. The Bill seeks to divide the eligible households into two broad categories — priority and general — wherein the “priority” group will...

-ANI On one hand where cold weather and fog has disrupted normal life and brought the traffic on the road to a virtual halt, farmers in Amritsar were happy with the weather as it is proving beneficial for the standing wheat crop. Farmers said that the decline in mercury and widespread fog in various parts of the state has lightened up the prospects of good production of wheat this year. "The fog is...

-Times Now TV   It is allies versus the Congress over the draft Food Security Bill. Sources have told TIMES NOW that Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has expressed his reservations over the Food Bill over its huge financial implications on the Government as it proposes to increase food subsidy by over 30,000 crore on a Government already under massive financial stress and over the need for greater food grain Procurement to...