The department of food and public distribution has rejected both proposals of the National Advisory Council (NAC) to provide food security, saying the government risked running up against supply constraints and taking on an unsustainable fiscal burden. The rejection by the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution means that both NAC, headed by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, and the government will have to go back to the drawing board...

The Orissa government has set a target of procuring 32 lakh tonne of rice this time despite bad weather, reducing dependance on the Food Corporation of India (FCI), official sources said today.The decision not to wholly depend on the FCI was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here last night."As performance of FCI was not satisfactory in 2009, the state government decided to reduce target...

174 lakh bogus cards were cancelled in various States in the last one year Ministry tells States, Union Territories to issue ads in newspapers The Centre has warned bogus ration card holders to surrender their cards or face penal action. As part of a campaign, the government has cancelled about 174 lakh bogus ration cards in various States in the last one year. In a recent letter to the States and Union Territories, the...

A common incidence of rotting food grains has been reported in India and the Philippines even as millions are starving. The problem has to be tackled with dexterity at both the domestic and regional levels to curb this alarming wastage of food that contributes to food insecurity at large. RECENT NEWS reports from the Philippines and India interestingly surfaced with one common problem -- rotting food grains in both countries, even...

The goal of food for all can be achieved only through sustained efforts in producing, saving and sharing foodgrains. The Supreme Court of India has rendered great service by arousing public, professional and political concern about the co-existence of rotting grain mountains and mounting hungry mouths. In several African countries hunger is increasing because food is either not available in the market, or is too expensive for the poor. Food inflation...