-The Financial Express Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha have reported sharp falls in grain leakages through public distribution system (PDS) during the period between 2004-05 and 2011-12, according to an assessment by development economists Jean Dreze and Reetika Khera. In Chhattisgarh, which took several measures such as digitisation of beneficiaries lists, fair-price shops and GPS tracking of foodgrain carrying trucks, the estimated grain leakage has reduced to only 9.3% in 2011-12 from 51.8%...

-The Hindu New Delhi: Just how leaky is the Public Distribution System and is it getting worse or better? The question is at the centre of a dispute between economists over recent estimates of diversion in the PDS used in an official report. The Shanta Kumar high-level committee on the restructuring of the Food Corporation of India submitted its report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, recommending a gradual move...

-The Hindu A new study has estimated that 46.7 per cent or 25.9 million metric tonnes (MMTs) of the grains (rice and wheat), released through the PDS, did not reach the intended beneficiaries in 2011-12. In the study, based on the latest NSSO data, by Chair Professor for Agriculture at ICRIER and former Chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP), Ashok Gulati and Shweta Saini, Chhattisgarh was the best performing...

-Outlook A parsing of the recent expert report on food security reveals that most of its solutions do not meet the greater public good. The BJP's election manifesto had stated "that ‘universal food security' is integral to national security. BJP will take steps to ensure that the benefits of the scheme reach the common man and that the right to food does not remain an act on paper or a political...

-The Hindu The Shanta Kumar Committee's recommendations to unbundle the Food Corporation of India are in tune with U.S.-led demands raised in the World Trade Organization The Shanta Kumar Committee report, released last week, on a range of issues relating to procurement, storage and distribution of food grains is not only deeply flawed in its reading of the situation on food security, but also short on facts. It was prepared under the...