The National Advisory Council's move to restrict universalisation of the PDS to the most disadvantaged districts may ultimately end up limiting its impact. RECENT weeks have seen rather contradictory statements on the challenge of ensuring food security and the set of feasible initiatives for managing the food economy. To start with, the National Advisory Council (NAC), which recognises the need for a universal public distribution system (PDS), and which was expected to...

Did the Union food minister hide facts from Parliament on the rotting grains in India? On Friday, Sharad Pawar claimed that the media reports of rotting of millions of tonnes of foodgrains are "quite exaggerated" while arguing that a master plan has been prepared to increase storage capacity. Replying to CPM member Brinda Karat during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, Pawar said, "The statement which member made that millions of...

Today, the Supreme Court of India will hear arguments in what is emerging as a national disgrace: One of the world’s largest stockpiles of foodgrain going to rot and rodent because the government lacks the vision, ability and commitment to either store it properly or distribute it to the poor. Let me recap what I reported on the front-page of this paper last month: About a third of India’s grain reserves,...

A team of central officials and experts will visit Jharkhand to assess the drought situation, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said in the Lok Sabha today, a day after Raj Bhavan added four names to the existing list of 12 parched districts. Tomorrow, the central team will go to Bihar, which has also recorded deficit rainfall this monsoon, on a similar mission. Pawar’s assurance came in response to a question raised by...

The state health department has sought additional 7.6 lakh capsules and syrup of oseltamivir (popularly known as Tamiflu) from the Union government for distribution to rural areas of the state. The fresh demand for oseltamivir, the only prescribed drug to treat swine flu, was triggered by reports of more cases of infection and deaths in rural parts of Maharashtra since the onset of monsoon this year. The department has demanded...