-Down to Earth Shanta Kumar committee report recommends privatisation, outsourcing and cash benefit transfer to cut food procurement and distribution costs The high level committee set up to look into the restructuring of Food Corporation of India has recommended reducing the number of beneficiaries under the Food Security Act-from the current 67 per cent to 40 per cent. It has also recommended allowing private players to procure and store food grains, stopping...
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UPA’s food Act was more about ‘vote security’: FCI revamp panel chief -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express The National Food Security Act (NFSA) passed during the previous UPA regime's tenure was more about "vote security" than "food security", according to Shanta Kumar, BJP MP and chairman of the high level committee on Restructuring the Food Corporation of India (FCI). Defending his committee's recommendation to bring down the coverage of the NFSA from 67 per cent to around 40 per cent of the country's population, Kumar claimed...
More »Panel calls for cutting food security coverage, backs cash transfer -Surojit Gupta & Dipak Kumar Dash
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government should reduce coverage under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to 40% of the population from 67% and defer implementation of the scheme in states which have not complied with the rollout conditions, a panel appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recommended. The panel headed by former food minister Shanta Kumar submitted the report to the PM on Wednesday. Reforming the subsidy regime...
More »Explained: Understanding the permanent solution at WTO -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express Last week, India and the US reached an understanding on working out a "permanent solution" to the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The deal is seen as a breakthrough, ending the impasse that had stalled the implementation of a landmark Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) hammered out at the WTO's ministerial conference in Bali last December. * What is this deal...
More »Cash transfers can save Rs 30,000 crore per year in food subsidies: Shanta Kumar -Dipak K Dash & Surojit Gupta
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Conditional cash transfer instead of providing grains at subsidized rates to the poor under the Food Security Act can save at least Rs 30,000 crore annually, said Shanta Kumar, chairman of a panel set up to revamp the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI). Kumar said linking cash transfer to conditions such as constructing toilets was one of the several options being considered to ensure every...
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