-The Telegraph Annual expenses for the government’s food security programme have been estimated at Rs 112,205 crore, which will make it very difficult for the government to fulfill its commitments on checking fiscal deficit. Food and consumers affairs minister K.V. Thomas disclosed the massive bill on the programme today in the Rajya Sabha, though no mention of this was made in Friday’s budget. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had just said he would foot...

-PTI Implementation of the National Food Security Bill will entail a subsidy of a whopping Rs 1.12 lakh crore, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister K V Thomas informed the Rajya Sabha today.  Food subsidy as per 1993-94 poverty line and 2000 population census is Rs 88,976 crore and as per the 2011 census it would be Rs 197,096 crore, he said during Question Hour.  Additional food subsidy burden for 2012-13 is estimated at...

-The Times of India A Delhi court has charged Nestle India for violating the law in advertisements and labelling of its infant food products.  The order, which was in response to a 17-year-old complaint, said that Nestle India had violated the Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act.  Reacting to the order, the complainant Dr Arun Gupta, representing the Association for Consumers Action on Safety...

-PTI he government today said out of the 60 million tonnes of foodgrains distributed in the country in 2010-11 though the Public Distribution System (PDS), only 0.061 lakh tonnes were reported to be damaged.  The total damage reported during 2010-11 was 0.061 lakh tonnes, out of the total 60 million tonnes distributed in the country in 2010-11, Minister of State for Foods and Public Distribution K V Thomas said in Rajya Sabha.  He...

-The Business Standard In Budget, reformers win, NAC loses The consensus opinion that has developed about the 2012-13 Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday is that it was unambitious, especially in terms of reworking government spending. It delivered little in terms of a vision for reform, the argument goes, constrained as it was by the spending-hungry allies in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the entitlement-hooked Congress leadership. A...