-Scroll.in The Central government is using outdated population figures to determine grain allocations to states under the food security law. Millions of Indians live on the verge of hunger even in normal times. Now, with the coronavirus epidemic sweeping the world and India declaring a five week-long economic lockdown to contain it, hunger threatens an even larger population which has no income to buy food. As part of its economic central government has...
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It's time to universalize the PDS to avoid hunger & starvation during lockdown, appeal social activists to the union food minister
-Press release by Right to Food Campaign dated 13th April, 2020 Supported by more than 450 concerned citizens and civil society organisations, an appeal has been sent by the Right to Food Campaign to the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Shri Ram Vilas Paswan on 13th April, 2020. In that letter to the food minister, the Right to Campaign -- an informal network of organisations and individuals committed...
More »Excess stocks of the Food Corporation of India must be released to the poor -Jean Drèze
-The Indian Express Jean Dreze writes: Releasing food is all the more crucial as the emergency cash transfers proposed by the finance minister are likely to have severe limitations. How would you feel if a family were to let its weakest members starve, even as the house’s granary is full to the brim? That is what is happening in India today. Everyone knows that the country has large food stocks, and that some...
More »No ration cards, no food supplies. Hunger stalks rural India -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com The list of PDS beneficiaries has not been updated for over five years and excludes many children and women NEW DELHI : It’s well past lunch hour, but 50-year-old Bitaiya is yet to step into her kitchen. Her meagre supply of wheat flour was scraped clean the night before. So, whether she—a daily wage earner whose husband died of tuberculosis a few years ago—and her two children, seven- and 16-year olds,...
More »What Does the COVID-19 Lockdown Mean for Food Security? -Gurpreet Singh
-TheWire.in At a time when the Rabi crop is ready for harvest and the Kharif crop will be sown, quick and effective policy responses are required. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, India has announced a nationwide 21-day lockdown, shutting down all businesses except essential services. The government has assured that the supply of food items and other necessities won’t be hindered during this period. While social distancing has been adopted as a measure...
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