-The Hindu Department of Public Instruction seeks higher allocations from Centre Mysore: The soaring prices of food commodities, particularly rice and vegetables, have escalated the cost of cooking food for schoolchildren under the midday meal scheme, Akshara Dasoha, in the State. As rice is the staple diet under the popular scheme which has addressed the issue of school dropout, the sharp rise in the prices of rice and vegetables have only increased the...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: A tight vigil against diversion of subsidized fuel meant for domestic use seems to be paying off. The consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), commonly called cooking gas, has started to dip since government capped sale of subsidized cylinders to every household and for the first time ever, sales have fallen for two successive months in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year. Consumption...

-The Business Standard Not so efficiently or transparently but there is progress and hope, besides showcasing likely problems with the Centre's own law Mahasamund (Chhattisgarh): The UPA government at the Centre has been mulling hard on ways to enact its Food Security Bill, even as the Chhattisgarh government has completed six months of enacting a like law, one providing 35 kg of rice a month at Rs 2 a kg to all...

-The Hindu Switching to renewable energy sources in the country's midday meal programme will save millions of rupees. But only a few kitchens are doing anything about it, says the author. This is a story of facts and figures and sheer size. Of an auditorium-sized room dense with hot steam from cooking. Of seven tonnes of cooked rice and four tanker-loads of steaming sambar that needed 70 pairs of hands for cutting...

-The United Nations The head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today called for greater efforts to combat malnutrition and hunger worldwide as the agency launched its flagship annual report, which this year focuses on improved food systems for better nutrition. In a message marking the launch of The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA), Director-General José Graziano da Silva said that although the world has registered some progress...