-The Hindu India's hard won gains in achieving food security are in danger of being undermined by a clause in the National Food Security Bill that encourages States to adopt cash transfers in lieu of food entitlements under the Public Distribution System (PDS). Supporting this view, a recent report by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) concluded that the provision of food subsidies in the form of cash would...
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Between mass hunger and bursting granaries-Agrima Bhasin
-The Hindu A concern about the Food Security Bill is that legal entitlement has been weakened to mean a passive right to receive whatever the state gives The hallmark of the National Food Security Bill 2011 is that if implemented it will translate into India's first ever right to food legislation, guaranteeing food as a justiciable, legal entitlement to its people. However, in its current form, the Bill fails to evolve a...
More »Crumbs on the plate -Harsh Mander
-The Hindustan Times It now seems increasingly unlikely that Parliament will consider the National Food Security Bill during this budget session. In a land which for centuries suffered devastating famines, where chronic hunger continues to stalk more than 200 million people, and which is home to every third malnourished child on the planet, this would be one more sad betrayal of the country's indigent millions, a reminder of how little they...
More »India Jobs Program Scam Pays Wages to Dead Workers -Andrew MacAskill, Unni Krishnan & Tushar Dhara
-Bloomberg The corpse of Indian farmer Bengali Singh burned to ash atop a blazing funeral pyre on the banks of the river Ganges in 2006. Five years later, the dead man was recorded as being paid by India's $33 billion rural jobs program to dig an irrigation canal in Jharkhand state. Officials in his village and the surrounding region used at least 500 identities, including those of Singh, a disabled child of...
More »Right to Food Campaign rejects the National Food Security Bill cleared by the Cabinet
-Right to Food Campaign RIGHT TO FOOD CAMPAIGN REJECTS THE NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY BILL CLEARED BY THE CABINET THE CAMPAIGN WILL CONTINUE PROTESTING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE FOOD SECURITY LAW THIS IS A MERE SOP, A FOOD INSECURITY LAW AND NOT A FOOD SECURITY LAW Jantar Mantar 19th March, 2013 More than 500 people of the Right to Food Campaign sitting at Jantar Mantar rejected the National Food Security Bill 2013 which was passed by the cabinet...
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