The proposed Food Security Act is likely to float a fund to act as a backup in years of drought or flood. The contingency fund will facilitate direct cash transfer in place of foodgrain entitlements to families unable to access foodgrain due to reduced supply in the public distribution system.“We have suggested a fund for drought or flood, and when our production is hit. The fund will be with the...
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PM panel report on NAC food plan soon by Zia Haq
An expert group appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to examine recommendations of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council on a draft food security law will present its findings by December-end. The NAC, which steers the UPA government’s social agenda, had drafted a framework for the Food Security Bill, which was presented before the expert group on November 26.“We are looking at the implications of the proposed provisions of the food...
More »FCI's intentions of outsourcing food security could spell disaster: Swaminathan
On an RTI ( Right To information) lodged by CNN-IBN, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has revealed its intentions to outsource India's food security. Prof. M S Swaminathan, the father of India’s green revolution, reacted to the news calling it a national disaster. The government did a poor job of both storing and distributing food grains and let thousands of tonnes simply lie and rot. "Outsource India's food security,"...
More »Pawar: enhance farm production to implement Food Security Act by Sarabjit Pandher
No proposal to revise Minimum Support Price Despite demands from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, there is no proposal with the Centre to revise the Minimum Support Price (MSP) or announce any bonus for wheat, paddy and sugarcane crops. However, it is working towards a system of ensuring remunerative prices under which farmers do not require any concessions in future, according to Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad...
More »Issues at stake in rural development by U Subrahmanyam
The papers in this volume, as indicated in the preface, are not envisaged to be mere academic exercises; they are intended to provide the basis for informed discussions among key stakeholders and with policymakers involved in the areas related to agriculture, food security and rural development in India. If achieving self-sufficiency in food is the primary goal of agriculture policy, poverty alleviation is the second. As has been pointed out,...
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