-The Hindu     The promise of near-universal coverage is now nowhere in sight. And the UPA's seemingly fretful efforts to get the measure through do not appear to be convincing The nation is watching with trepidation the play of politics over the National Food Security Bill, which envisages food security for 67 per cent of the population by providing 5 kg of rice, wheat or coarse cereals per person per month at subsidised...

-Outlook A govt in credibility crisis wants to see the food security bill through The UPA-II government's flagship programme, the Food Security Bill, which comes with a neat price tag of Rs 1.23 lakh crore, holds the promise of eradicating hunger. If passed, the bill, it is expected, will ensure foodgrain to 67 per cent of the poor. Surely, with elections round the corner, no political party can risk opposing it....

-Firstpost.com It is becoming increasingly difficult to retain respect for Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. He seems to surface in the media every time the UPA government is about to legislate its pet follies, providing intellectual succour to mindless spending and corruption wrapped up in the package of anti-poverty schemes. Yesterday, Sen bobbed up just when the UPA - under siege for every known scam in India - tried to start discussions on...

-The Hindu Business Line Mother Nature possesses bountiful natural resources. After all, it is not for nothing that our planet is today supporting a seven billion human population, besides a large number of other living beings with varying survival requirements. Till around the end of the 19th century, agriculture, in the form it was practised, provided more or less enough food to sustain the human population of that time. This is...

-The Financial Express Leading economists who fear that the cost of the food security law on the exchequer would be much higher than estimated by the government have a seemingly unlikely ally - farmers' groups. A couple of national-level farmers' organisations have opposed the National Food Security Bill, saying it would "lead to nationalisation of agriculture by making the government the biggest buyer, hoarder and seller of foodgrains". Farmers' representatives from a...