-The Indian Express Given indicators that the government is considering moving to cash transfers and replacing the public distribution system (PDS), and the release of the Shanta Kumar Committee report, the debate on how best to provide food security has been rekindled. The report has a careful analysis of the sources of inefficiency at various stages of the procurement, storage and distribution system. Especially heartening is the admission that the Food...

-PTI The scheme can have a negative impact on prices, productivity: FICCI-KPMG New Delhi: After the Prime Minister's referred to MGNREGA as a "monument to the failure of the UPA regime", comes a report blaming it for creating shortage of farm labour. A Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)-KMPG report titled ‘Labour in Indian Agriculture: A Growing Challenge', released here on Wednesday, says schemes, such as the Mahatma Gandhi National...

-The Indian Express The Union budget is largely about the intentions and policies of the government of the day, as well as the arithmetic of resource mobilisation and allocation to achieve certain ends in the economy. The diagnostics of various economic problems and their probable solutions are generally found in the Economic Survey. The Economic Survey clearly indicates that growth in agri-GDP in FY15 has collapsed to just 1.1 per cent, while...

-The Financial Express The government has decided to dispense with "levy rice", a mandatory system under which rice millers also undertake rice procurement for the public distribution system by buying paddy directly from the farmers, effective the next marketing season starting October. The system, introduced way back in 1978, is set to be withdrawn as the government felt that a lack of effective supervision often allowed the millers to avoid paying minimum...

Following the recommendations of the Shanta Kumar Committee report on restructuring of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), there are signs that the Central Government is in a hurry to replace the Public Distribution System (PDS) with cash transfers. The Government's intention has been revealed in two official letters (one dated 10 February 2015 and another dated 11 February 2015) that were sent from the Joint Secretary at Department of...