Air quality in North India in general and Delhi National Capital Region (Delhi NCR) in particular plunged to its lowest point in recent years during October-November thanks to a variety of factors. Through media reports one comes to know that stubble burning (also called paddy straw burning/ crop residue burning) is chiefly responsible for the public health crisis in India's capital and its nearby regions. Data accessed from the website...

-National Herald Odisha government made linking of Aadhaar with PDS compulsory for all beneficiaries; technological issues like low internet penetration contributing to humanitarian crisis After Jharkhand, now several hundreds of ration cardholders from three districts in Odisha have been denied their Public Distribution System (PDS) food grains for at least 60 days mostly on the basis of the failure of Aadhaar system. According to a survey conducted in three districts—Nabarangpur, Nuapada and Malkangiri—...

-Scroll.in A survey by the Right to Food campaign showed that 17 of these families did not receive any ration at all for the months of September and October. As many as 272 families in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district did not receive their quota of foodgrains for the months of September and October because of discrepancies in linking their Aadhaar numbers to the Public Distribution System, the Right to Food campaign has found...

-IANS Consumers covered under the Public Distribution System (PDS) will soon be free to buy their goods from any ration centre under the 'one nation, one ration card' scheme, officials said. Consumers covered under the Public Distribution System (PDS) will soon be free to buy their goods from any ration centre under the 'one nation, one ration card' scheme, officials said. "Making available cheaper foodgrain and ensuring satisfaction of the consumers is the...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Public Distribution System is the cornerstone of anti-poverty initiatives in India to address the issue of hunger and malnutrition, but is plagued with leakages and corruption. Though several possible reasons account for these problems, one factor that is generally overlooked is the lack of assessment of the preference of the beneficiaries in terms of product portfolio, selection, and delivery mechanisms. Through a mixed methods analysis across...