AGRICULTURE minister Sharad Pawar has launched smart cards in Haryana and Chandigarh as a pilot project aimed at streamlining the public distribution system (PDS). Smart cards will replace paper cards and the subsidised ration bought at fair price shops (FPS) will be recorded online. The smart card will have biometric identification details of the beneficiary like fingerprints and iris scans. A smart card will also record the amount of stock a...
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Something Is Rotten by Anuradha Raman
Systemic Failure * Despite record procurement, poor storage has led to a criminal waste of grain * 61,000 tonnes of grain rotted as it was left in the open during the monsoon * The FCI had shut down storage facilities after low procurement in 2006-07 * The plan for decentralised storage facilities is 40 years old. It’s still hanging fire. * EGoM did not clear the surplus grains for the PDS since it would have...
More »Bihar sees a growing tribe of rural migrants by Pallavi Singh
Amipur may be a small dot along the national highway from Patna to Nawada, but its ambitions are big. In the 50-odd households in the village, sparsely populated and rife with an uneasy quiet, most men have left for work outside Bihar. Siyaram Chauhan is the one who returned. He was rescued last month by the state government officials from a brick kiln in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich where he worked as...
More »Prices soar, 61,000 tonnes of foodgrain rot by Nitin Sethi
The government admitted to the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on food and prices that 61,000 tonnes of foodgrain had rotted in its granaries as it was kept with poor protection for too long. The EGoM headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was ascertaining the status of overflowing stocks in Food Corporation of India godowns. Sources said Haryana and Punjab were unable to protect or sell the 15.5 million tonnes...
More »Cotton farmers opt for double-gene Bt technology by Harish Damodaran
The widespread acceptability of Bt technology among India's cotton farmers is a recognised reality today. This year, out of the total projected cotton area of 260-265 lakh acres, about 225 lakh acres would be sown under Bt hybrids/varieties. Considering that the latter figure stood at a mere 72,000 acres in 2002, it represents perhaps the most rapid rate of diffusion for any technology after the mobile phone. But even this tells only...
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