Faced with acute shortage in supply of foodgrain in the public distribution system (PDS), all fair price shop owners in the state have decided to down their shutters from September 20 for an indefinite period. Three year ago, ration shops were gutted and many dealers had to go underground after food riots due to shortage. Surprisingly, minister of food & supplies Paresh Adhikari appeared to be unaware of the situation. “We...

The goal of food for all can be achieved only through greater and integrated attention to production, procurement, preservation and public distribution. The President, in her address to Parliament on June 4, 2009, announced: “My Government proposes to enact a new law — the National Food Security Act — that will provide a statutory basis for a framework which assures food security for all. Every family below the poverty line in...

When flames from an open cooking fire raced through Fida Hussein's shack in northern India, it was a disaster for him and his poverty-stricken family. "We have nothing," said Hussein as he stood in the ruins of his hut through which the sky could be seen between the burnt roof timbers in a remote corner of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. India's number of millionaires grew by 51 percent...

On the eve of a decision on the draft food security law by the Sonia Gandhi headed National Advisory Council, the government unveiled a blueprint for a complete revamp of the public distribution system, or PDS. State food ministers on Tuesday approved time bound changes in the PDS to plug the weaknesses in the system to create the appropriate delivery mechanism for meeting legal commitments of the proposed law. The...

The country will have to raise its food production by 70 per cent in the next 20 years to meet the demand of the growing population, says a report. "With rising population and consumption needs, rural India and China will have to raise their food production substantially to meet the bigger demand by 2030. India will need to raise its food production by 70 per cent," a report by brokerage...