Antiquated food storage methods and technologies have been costing India dearly. The chairman of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Siraj Hussain, admits that food worth Rs 50,000 crore is wasted every year. This comes roughly to 20 per cent of the total food produced by the country. Though this figure includes food that is lost in processing, packaging, transportation and even marketing, yet a substantial portion of it is lost...
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Maya's changed stance on dailt cooks may irk HC by Swati Mathur
Dropping her hardline stance on appointment of dalits as cooks in primary schools may soften her image for the ‘janta' ahead of the panchayat polls this year, but Mayawati's sudden move could invite the ire of the state high court. Action, however, will depend on whether a government functionary or a dalit will now come forward to challenge the chief minister's latest diktat. Notably, earlier this year, the UP government approached...
More »Instead of feeding the poor, India lets grain rot by Samar Halarnkar & Manpreet Randhawa
A day after the Prime Minister urged a quick start to a national food security network, it has emerged that his government may let foodgrain —enough to feed 140 million poor people for a month—decay, instead of spending money and effort distributing it to the poor. Warning of an “emergency situation”, a person familiar with the situation told the Hindustan Times that 17.8 million tonnes of wheat and rice are being...
More »Expanded mandate for panel to probe likely displacement by Vedanta project
The four-member panel, which holds the Fate of Vedanta's bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa, has been given an expanded mandate. The committee has now been given the job of investigating the “likely physical and economic displacement due to the project, including the resource displacement of forest users and the rehabilitation plan.” Open-ended course It has also been given an open-ended mandate, with permission to “inquire into or investigate any...
More »One Bride for 2 Brothers: A Custom Fades in India by Lydia Polgreen
Buddhi Devi was 14 when she was betrothed. In India, that is not unusual: many marry young. Her intended was a boy from her village who was two years younger — that, too, was not strange. But she was also supposed to marry her future husband’s younger brother, once he was old enough. Now 70 and a widow who is still married— one of her husbands is dead — Ms. Devi...
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