Gearing for the challenge of implementing the proposed Food Security Bill, Union Minister of State for Food and Public Distribution K.V. Thomas has decided to hold a conference of Chief Ministers to seek their views and cooperation. Mr. Thomas toldThe Hindu that he had made a presentation of the proposed Bill to Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh...

The current perception that cash transfers can replace public provision of basic goods and services and become a catch-all solution for poverty reduction is false. Where cash transfers have helped to reduce poverty, they have added to public provision, not replaced it. For crucial items like food, direct provision protects poor consumers from rising prices and is part of a broader strategy to ensure domestic supply. Problems like targeting errors...

The upsurge in the use of the toxic pesticide endosulfan, targeted for prohibition by the international community, illustrates one of the dilemmas of intensive agriculture in Argentina and Latin America in general. "There is always a natural solution," insists farmer Alicia Alem, a member of an Argentine cooperative that produces cereal and forage crops without chemical fertilisers or pesticides. "In terms of wheat, for example, the cooperative gets exactly the same yield...

Government to promote its use to tackle anaemia Food Department to examine the possibility of supplying DFS through PDS Ministries of Women and Child Development and Health to launch media campaign The Union government will promote the use of iron fortified iodised salt (double fortified salt) to battle anaemia, one of the major causes of malnutrition, particularly among women and children. To begin with, the Ministries dealing with food and nutrition programmes such as...

The prestigious Harvard University will honour Ela Bhatt, founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), for her "life and work" that has had a "significant impact on society" . Bhatt (77), whose trade union has helped over a million women in India gain access to opportunities for themselves and their families, will be awarded the Radcliffe Institute Medal by Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She would be presented the medal...