Conservation measures have taken away the traditional livelihoods of nomadic tribes in Karnataka. AT a short distance from the world famous monuments at Hampi is the village of Hulihaidar in the fertile region of the “rice bowl of Karnataka” in Gangavathi taluk in Koppal district. Local residents say it was an important town in the Vijayanagara empire (1336-1646 C.E.) and the seat of a local lord. Today it is home to...

The government has asked states including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Bihar to set up grain procuring infrastructure to increase lifting from the farmers so that requirement for the proposed food security law could be met. The Food Corporation of India, chairman and managing director, Siraj Hussain said state-level procuring agencies can help in arranging sufficient credit facilities for carrying out grain purchase activities without depending on the Central...

Kerala on Wednesday raised serious apprehensions on the effectiveness of the proposed national food security law as it could remove large number of poor families from the beneficiary list besides putting enormous financial burden on the state. Shibu Baby John, food and civil supplies minister, Kerala said the centre must apply separate socio-economic critieria for choosing beneficiaries under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) as because of better human index of...

-The Hindu   Prompt payment through bank; corruption eliminated; in fact, some workers have a saving They are all manual workers earning Rs. 100 daily under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and some of them have a bank balance — no matter how small — made possible because of their financial inclusion and the introduction of technology that links their accounts biometrically through the Aadhaar number. As the new system ensures...

-The Telegraph   The proposed food security law may not succeed unless the government revamps the public distribution system (PDS) and creates back-up infrastructure, Sharad Pawar said today about the bill seen as a Sonia Gandhi pet project. “I will be failing in my duty if I do not emphasise the food security act will never succeed in achieving its goals in letter and spirit if we try to push the same through...