-The Times of India LUCKNOW: By replacing Aadhaar data of public distribution system (PDS) beneficiaries with those of impostors, fraudsters carried out almost 1.86 lakh transactions to pilfer 2.2 lakh tonnes of wheat and sugar in July this year, an internal probe by the state government has found. However, Aadhaar numbers and biometric records of no genuine beneficiary were compromised. UIDAI sources confirmed that there was no breach in the Aadhaar system...

-Firstpost.com Farmers across India are sceptical about the promised benefits of the minimum support price (MSP) promised by the government for their kharif crop. In a press release, the government announced that the MSP would be set at 50 percent over the cost of production and vowed to double farmers’ incomes by 2022. As Amrinder Singh Punia, a farmer and general secretary of the Punjab Agricultural University Kisan Club, points out, “Government...

-The Hindu Business Line By converting a necessity into a virtue, the government has decided to release the large inventory of procured pulses to different States at a discounted rate for utilisation in various welfare programs. Necessity because the stocks continue to occupy scarce warehousing space and incur huge carrying costs. Also, the Centre thinks, warehousing space may be needed during the upcoming kharif harvest less than six weeks away; and of course,...

The Right to Food Campaign Jharkhand welcomes the Jharkhand Government’s decision to discontinue the “DBT for food subsidy” experiment in Nagri. It is unfortunate, however, that it took almost a year of popular protests for the government to arrive at this decision. The DBT pilot caused enormous hardship to the people of Nagri, especially vulnerable groups such as single women and the elderly. Protests began within days of the experiment being...

-Economic and Political Weekly Denial of social security facilities is to blame in cases of alleged starvation deaths. The distressing news of three young girls dying of starvation in the heart of New Delhi last week raises a number of questions; not only on the failure of the state to protect its citizens from hunger 70 years after independence but also on the development model that India seems to be following. Mansi,...