-The New Indian Express   BALANGIR: The ongoing socio-economic survey to prepare the beneficiary list for the National Food Security Act (NFSA) is scheduled to be completed next month. The process, though, is going to leave out lakhs of migrants from Western Odisha districts, Balangir in particular, who will not be able to enrol themselves. This is because the seasonal migration cycle, which begins from September to June will deny the migrants a...

-The Hindu With India continuing to be plagued by malnutrition, it is foolhardy to use the changed food production situation in the domestic economy as a reason for dismantling the FCI Within months of assuming office, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government set up a High Level Committee (HLC) in August 2014 to restructure, reorient and reform the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The eight-member HLC was chaired by senior BJP leader,...

-The Hindu Jaipur: Opposing the proposed insurance-based model of health care for those covered under the National Food Security Act, civil society groups have asked Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to reconsider the decision as this would mean compromising and sidelining the immensely successful free medicines and free diagnostics schemes already operational in the State. "Given the complex socio-economic dynamics of the population, complete non-adherence to standard treatment protocols by the doctors,...

-The Times of India PANAJI: With the deadline for the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in Goa fast-approaching (March 15), the government is scrambling to complete the verification of beneficiary data, both for the electronic public distribution system (e-pds) and also for the NFSA. Civil supplies minister Dayanand Mandrekar told TOI that if Goa does not implement the NFSA on time, the state risks losing the PDS quota of...

Any change in the Public Distribution System (PDS) needs to be undertaken with extreme caution since it is likely to affect the food security of 50 percent of India's population. This has been stated by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in a recent research brief. The note from NCAER is based on India Human Development Survey (2011-12) data. In the IHDS, nearly 42,000 households from 33 states and...