Decision comes in the wake of court's concern In the wake of the concern expressed by the Supreme Court at foodgrains rotting, the Union government on Thursday decided to release an additional 2.5 million tonnes of rice and wheat to the States for distribution to the poor under the Targeted Public Distribution System. The grain will be sold at Below the Poverty Line (BPL) rates in the next six months. It was also...

An amount of Rs 5.09 cror have been expended by the Rural Development Department on the execution of 433 rural works under MGNREGA upto August 2010, besides 62000 job cards were also issued during the same period. 1336, development works were also targeted to complete them during the current fiscal. This was stated in a meeting of officers and engineers of Rural Development Department to review the progress achieved under the...

Competing for praise and popularity is as common between Ministries as are turf wars. When officers from different Ministries get the rare opportunity to meet and discuss matters of shared concern, they behave like alert soldiers who are expected to fight for every inch of territory. I had an exposure to this phenomenon while working for a Planning Commission sub-committee on vocational education for skill development. Vocational and technical training...

In light of the Supreme Court's observations, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food will meet here on Thursday and is expected to look at the possibility of the government allocating more subsidised foodgrains for the poor under the Targeted Public Distribution System. Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar — who told the Lok Sabha that the government was examining the Supreme Court's order on the distribution of foodgrains...

The National Advisory Council is still working on the amount of grain to be distributed to each family under the Food Security Act. It will hold consultations with ministries of rural development and food and the Planning Commission before it firms up its suggestions for the proposed legislation. The panel, which met on Monday, considered the economic cost of various options to meet the goal of food security. The NAC...