The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information has rejected Anna Hazare’s Jan Lokpal bill and said it had sent its version of the proposed anti-graft law to the parliamentary standing committee that is examining the Centre’s draft. At a media interaction today, NCPRI members Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander, who are also part of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), emphasised the importance of the standing committee which, they...
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Centre okays reforms in rural job programme by Chetan Chauhan
People’s body gram panchayat will be the new administrator for implementing the world's biggest social security programme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee, instead of government officials. In a new avatar, the government has approved new guarantees under MGNREGA including registration for job through a call centres, mandatory payment of wages within 15 days at the doorstep and providing dedicated staff at gram panchayat to implement and monitor the scheme. The...
More »Crop holiday and food security by MS Swaminathan
August is usually the preferred month for family holidays in Europe, because of abundant sunshine and warm weather. In India, normally, this is the south-west monsoon season and a busy period for farmers. This year, however, several farm families in coastal Andhra Pradesh, the rice bowl of the country, are reported to have declared ‘crop holiday’. This is because the rice mills have not been lifting even last years’ crop....
More »Food fundamentals by Coomi Kapoor
It will be a mistake to assume that the food security bill, in its present form, will necessarily and sharply reduce India’s embarrassingly high rates of child malnutrition. Satiating hunger and providing nutrients that are essential for healthy growth and fitness are not quite the same thing, a fact highlighted by the leading medical journal Lancet in a recent research paper. The article says the prevalence of anaemia in India...
More »Don't replace subsidised food with cash: Swaminathan
-IANS Eminent agriculture scientist and a member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), M.S. Swaminathan, has cautioned against the government's plan to replace subsidised food with cash under the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA). "The government's plan to replace subsidised ration with cash under the public distribution system (PDS) is faulty. It will lead to low procurement and less production subsequently. This will be bad for Indian agriculture," Swaminathan...
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