In pushing for a greatly truncated PDS, the Food Security Bill proposed by the NAC, which has many right-to-food activists, undermines the PDS itself. ENSURING food security was the big promise of United Progressive Alliance-2. The promise to enact legislation to ensure a minimum quantity of affordable food to all poor households in the country was part of the election manifesto of the Congress party that leads the government. The 100-day...
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Foodgrains order will hit farmers, impact food security: Govt to SC by Krishnadas Rajagopal
The Union Food Ministry today told the Supreme Court that its suggestion on limiting food procurement to available storage facilities, if put to action, would hit the poor farmer and “drastically impact food security of the nation”. In a 19-page affidavit, C Vishwanath, joint secretary in the Ministry, said: “If Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government agencies that do the work of procurement were to limit procurement only to...
More »Global aid needed to help Pakistan avoid losing wheat crop, says UN agency
Without urgent global assistance to save the upcoming wheat-planting season in Pakistan, the food security of millions in the flood-hit nation is at risk, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today. Severe flooding, which has affected some 18 million people in Pakistan, has inundated land half the size of Italy and wiped out much of the country’s household wheat seed stocks. Wheat-based flat bread is the main food for...
More »NAC to consult ministries on Food Security Act
The National Advisory Council is still working on the amount of grain to be distributed to each family under the Food Security Act. It will hold consultations with ministries of rural development and food and the Planning Commission before it firms up its suggestions for the proposed legislation. The panel, which met on Monday, considered the economic cost of various options to meet the goal of food security. The NAC...
More »26 workers from eastern UP held captive in Malaysia by Rajiv Srivastava
About 26 Indians "most of them from eastern UP" have been held hostage near Malaysian city Ipoh for over a week now. According to reports, the hostages have been confined to a room surrounded by hills covered with dense forests. All that they are being given is rice, salt, a few biscuits to eat and water from flush tank to drink. Besides, they have been tied to each other so...
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