Local procurement for anganwadis can revive rural economy in a big way The dominating noise of the grinder and the mixer speaks loudly of a new skill that the women of Binka village have mastered. The house, centre of all activity, is the busiest in this sleepy village. The women are making a nutrition mix for 270 anganwadi centres in two blocks of Odisha’s Subarnapur district. Famed for their weaving skills, the...

Water is the most critical of all natural resources on which modern economies depend. Water scarcity and rapid economic advance cannot go hand-in-hand. Yet, with its per-capita water availability falling to 1,582 cu m per year, India has become water-stressed.  In 1960, India signed a treaty indefinitely setting aside 80% of the Indus-system waters for downstream Pakistan - the most generous water-sharing pact thus far in modern world history. Its 1996...

The National Food Security Bill has the potential to make a significant difference to the lives of the poor if properly implemented. However, the Bill in its present form has some easily correctible flaws that could cause huge problems in the future. A couple of simple amendments would greatly simplify the implementation and also allow innovation in the delivery of food subsidy. First, the proposed framework based on three categories of...

-The Times of India The government has been unable to explain why public sector firms imported pulses at a loss of 21%-30% a year from 2006 to 2011 adding up to Rs 1,200 crore, while private importers did not appear to have suffered such a misfortune. Questioned by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee about the " pulses scam" revealed in a Comptroller and Auditor General report, senior commerce and consumer affairs officials has...

The government is planning to come up with a price protection fund to cushion the burden of food subsidy, which is expected to grow manifold under the new Food Security Bill. The proposed fund, under the ministry of food and consumer affairs, is a Budget proposal for 2012-13. Officials said the framework of the fund was at a nascent stage. “Some inferences are being drawn from the recommendation of National Farmers’ Commission...