The parliamentary panel on food and agriculture has recommended against sugar decontrol, claiming the move will go against the interest of farmers as well as consumers. The views of this panel, expressed in a report tabled in the Parliament yesterday, are not binding. “The committee is of the opinion that if the entire control on manufacturing and distribution of sugar is removed, the PDS scheme will be adversely affected, as sugar...

The parliamentary panel on food and agriculture has recommended against sugar decontrol, claiming the move will go against the interest of farmers as well as consumers. The views of this panel, expressed in a report tabled in the Parliament yesterday, are not binding. “The committee is of the opinion that if the entire control on manufacturing and distribution of sugar is removed, the PDS scheme will be adversely affected, as sugar...

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) on food will meet tomorrow to discuss ways of implementing the Supreme Court order to distribute foodgrain ''free'' to the poor instead of letting it rot. "The EGOM on food is meeting tomorrow," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of an insurance summit organised by Assocham in Mumbai. The EGOM will discuss various issues related to foodgrain stock including the Supreme Court''s...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Union government to inform it of the steps taken to preserve the remaining grain procured. Hearing a petition filed by the People's Union for Civil Liberties relating to the streamlining of the PDS, a Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma, quoting the court commissioner's report, said 50,000 tonnes of wheat had deteriorated, and was not fit for consumption, and several lakhs of...

The Supreme Court today told the Centre’s counsel to tell “your minister” it had issued “an order, not a suggestion”, to distribute free foodgrain to the poor. The stinging rebuke drew a measured response that masked the misgivings within the government and amplified the paranoia among parties that any debate could saddle them with the politically suicidal label “anti-poor”. The court was responding to comments attributed to food minister Sharad Pawar that...