-Firstpost.com On 7 May, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India presented to Parliament a Performance Audit of Storage Management and Movement of Foodgrains in Food Corporation of India. This report has gone largely unreported in the media, given that it does not contain any big number running into lakhs of crores like previous reports of the CAG did. But it clearly explains why the government of India is in no...
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The food mountain: security or a liability?- Renu Kohli
-Live Mint Exporting one's way out of the surplus is a losing proposition as global prices have fallen rapidly in the past few weeks India held 77.5 million tonnes (mt) of food stocks in its central pool on 1 May. These stocks had reached a record high of 82.4 mt on 1 June 2012, and that level could be crossed if wheat procurement this May is similar to the procurement a...
More »CAG, food security and good sense -Tejinder Narang
-The Hindu Business Line A new CAG report offers valuable insights into the likely implications of implementing the proposed food security law. The National Food Security Bill (NFSB) couldn't be passed in the Parliament session that ended last week, despite a spirited promotional pitch by its proponents - including Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. Last week also saw the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) table its report on "Performance Audit of...
More »Here's why Food Bill will cost more than we think-Prachi Mishra
-The Economic Times The revised, but not yet passed, National Food Security Bill (NFSB) represents a crucial political-economic approach to welfare. But how well do we understand the financial and, more importantly, distributional consequences of the revised Bill? Although the revised Bill is likely to simplify the identification of beneficiaries, financial implications will still be substantial. Calculating these implications must include not only the cost of food subsidy, but also additional costs...
More »Cash transfers are bad for food security-Madhavi Cherian
-The Hindu India's hard won gains in achieving food security are in danger of being undermined by a clause in the National Food Security Bill that encourages States to adopt cash transfers in lieu of food entitlements under the Public Distribution System (PDS). Supporting this view, a recent report by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) concluded that the provision of food subsidies in the form of cash would...
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