-Economic and Political Weekly The proposed legislation on the National Food Security Act has been steadily watered down since it was fi rst mooted in 2009. The Parliamentary Standing Committee that examined the 2011 Bill has disappointingly continued with "targeting". If the government passes the bill incorporating the committee's suggestions, a historic opportunity to combat hunger and malnutrition would be lost. Ankita Aggarwal (aggarwal.ankita87@gmail.com) is a Research Scholar at the Centre for...

-The Hindu “Allocation for urban population should be made on a par with rural population” Reiterating its reservations over the National Food Security Bill, Tamil Nadu on Wednesday said it is for raising the coverage of urban population under the Bill from 50 per cent to 75 per cent. At a conference of State Food Ministers in New Delhi on Wednesday, Tamil Nadu Minister for Food R. Kamaraj, who began his speech referring...

-The Hindu Even as the Centre hopes to introduce and pass the National Food Security Bill in the coming budget session of Parliament, several States have expressed reservations on the Bill. At a consultation meeting of State Food Ministers here to evolve a consensus on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee to which the government Bill was referred on Wednesday, many States differed on crucial provisions, particularly the ones relating to...

-PTI   The government needs to do a lot to create new jobs, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Thursday adding the NSSO data does not necessarily reveal "what exactly is happening". "It is not sufficient to reach to any conclusion about the workforce scenario. I don't believe that we can come to an unambiguous conclusion on the basis of NSSO data that what exactly is happening", he said addressing...

-Business Today What does the proposed food security law mean for the government's finances? Most days, around half a dozen middleaged men in Tamil Nadu's Nemam village head for a slushy pond. They are farm labourers who have had little work for the past few months because of a drought in their Tiruvarur district. As an alternative they catch fish, but the income from it is not enough to survive on. "But...