-PTI   The Centre will soon initiate the consultation process with the state governments on the draft National Food Security Bill that aims to provide legal right on subsidised foodgrains to 68 per cent of India's population. "We will at the earliest start the consultation process with the states. The law ministry has already vetted the draft bill and the same has been communicated to the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee," Food Minister K...

-IANS   The draft National Food Security Bill, which has been approved by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), has scant regard for children and does not assure their right to food security, activists of the Right to Food campaign said Monday. "It appears that the government does not consider the specific issues related to the food security of children, who form about 40 percent of the population, or the vast problem...

DESPITE WHAT our reel-life heroes have shown us, perhaps it’s only possible to fight one villain at a time. Still, in his last few days on the job, Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde tried to battle two evils, with two reports that presented damning evidence of corruption in the BJP government. The first report, on illegal mining, had enough firepower to systematically dig holes in the state government. The second report,...

States are expected to take responsibility for this, but the Bill ignores the nutritional crisis altogether K V Thomas Minister for Food The inclusion of iron supplements, protein, dairy supplements and vegetables can be done gradually - this Bill is just the beginning The food security Bill will certainly ensure nutrition but it is the states that have to take steps for that. The draft Bill approved recently by the Group of Ministers is...

The embarrassment of riches in grain stocks confronting the government is a problem of its own making. It is the product of ill-conceived policies on grain procurement, storage and distribution and mistimed decisions on opening and shutting of foodgrain exports. The grain stocks that have piled up as a consequence are far more than needed for any rational inventory and public distribution programme. Burgeoning food stocks pose problems of storage...