The draft of National Food Security Bill has been uploaded on the internet. Congress President Sonia Gandhi's illness had derailed the grand launch of her dream project during the Parliament's monsoon session. The draft appears on the website of the Department of Food and Public Distribution, inviting the public for its comments and suggestions by September end. Gandhi is believed to have pulled up Food Minister KV Thomas for not tabling...
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Will Jairam Ramesh's new plan fix NREGA? by Sreelatha Menon
The new rural development minister wants to use technology to force states to make payments. Critics suggest that he should fix existing problems first. Jairam Ramesh is not afraid of stirring things up. Sixty days into his stint as the new Rural Development Minister, Ramesh, he has unveiled what he calls NREGA 2.0, a reform package that he feels would make the Rs 40,000 crore programme actually work. Ramesh has put together...
More »Govt readies draft of food security bill
-The Times of India The government has finally released the draft of the National Food Security Bill, and has put it up for comments till end of September. Only 46% of people in rural India and 28% in urban India will get 7 kg of foodgrain every month. Another 29% of those in rural India and 22% in urban India will be provided 3 kg of foodgrain per person. Grains to...
More »Land rush and sustainable food security by MS Swaminathan
Managing our soil and water resources in a sustainable and equitable manner needs a new political vision, which can be expressed through the proposed Land Acquisition Bill and the recently formed Global Soil Partnership. On the basis of a proposal I had made three years ago, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) launched a Global Soil Partnership for Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation at a multi-stakeholder conference, held...
More »Landless Plan a Long March by Isolda Agazzi
The Gandhian movement Ekta Parishad plans to organise a march for land rights in October 2012 in India, aiming to gather around 100,000 indigenous people, dalits and poor peasants. Support is shaping up around the world, at events such as an international mobilisation conference in Geneva Sep. 12-13. "In India, a large number of adivasi (indigenous people) are pushed out of their land because of mining, huge dams, wildlife protection, industrialisation...
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