The National Advisory Council's recommendations on the National Food Security Bill are in danger of being brushed aside. It is the fate of most advisory committees that the government accepts whatever advice suits its purposes and ignores the rest. The first version of the National Advisory Council (NAC-1) managed to avoid that fate to some extent, due to favourable circumstances. NAC-1 was able to persuade the government to enact the...
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Rangarajan panel differs with NAC on food entitlements for non-poor by Gargi Parsai
The Experts Group chaired by the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman, C. Rangarajan, favours mandatory entitlement of subsidised foodgrains to the ‘priority' category (Below the Poverty Line) as recommended by the National Advisory Council (NAC). But the Group does not think that it is feasible to extend to the ‘general' category (Above the Poverty Line) legal entitlement of subsidised foodgrains under the Public Distribution System (PDS). The panel has suggested...
More »Food security act should have provision for distribution of millets: MS Swaminathan
Eminent scientist M S Swaminathan has said the new National Food Security Act should include a provision for distribution of millets through the public distribution system. This measure will be implemented keeping in mind the possible reductions in yield of rice and wheat due to climate change. Speaking at a climate change symposium during the 98th Indian Science Congress 2011 held at SRM University on Wednesday, Swaminathan elaborated on the...
More »Orissa files 500-page response in Supreme Court over MGNREGA
The Orissa government today filed a 500-page response in the Supreme Court on the stricture made by the apex court on the alleged irregularities committed in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the state. "We have filed a 500-page response in the Supreme Court on the status of the implementation of MGNREGA in the state. Action has been taken against around 600 errant officials in...
More »The real meaning of food inflation by KP Prabhakaran Nair
There is a suggestion circulating in the corridors of our apex monetary regulatory authority, the Reserve Bank of India, that food inflation is beginning to look more ‘structural’ than ‘seasonal’, and it can only be tackled by addressing the supply side. We need to address both demand and supply sides simultaneously to tackle food inflation. While we must be happy that more and more poor eat fruits and cook vegetables...
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