Tired of its own inefficiency in plugging leaks and ensuring timely delivery of ration, the Madhya Pradesh government has decided to take the privatisation route to improve its ailing Public Distribution System. The new system is being put in place by a corporate consortium led by HCL Infosystems with Edenred India Private Ltd ― a subsidiary of corporate meal voucher provider and multinational hospitality giant Accor ― and Virgo Softech Pvt....
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No regard for kids in National Food Security Bill: Activists
-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...
More »The Other Scam You Forgot About by Rohini Mohan
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,...
More »PDS foodgrain stock allocated to UP by Swati Mathur
The ministry of consumer affairs and public distribution has allocated of 5.28 lakh tonnes per month of wheat and rice to Uttar Pradesh for the fiscal year 2011-12. The assigned foodgrains have been made available to the department of food and civil supplies for distribution through the public distribution system (PDS). At present, UP has a total of 65.84 lakh below poverty line (BPL) and 40.94 lakh Antyodaya card holders. On...
More »Making PDS an Effective Weapon by Prabha Jagannathan
In a week when the central food ministry is reviewing the functioning of the much-maligned public distribution system (PDS) and plans to pull up laggard states on poor storage facilities, low grain offtake, high diversion and a persistently slacking programme, an objective relook at the world’s largest grain distribution system is imperative. Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has time and again emphasised that streamlining the PDS in the usual-suspect states to...
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