At a time when economic wisdom is seen as lying in allowing unrestrained play of economic power and cutting social sector spending, here is a report emphasising the economic sense in addressing hunger, especially child malnutrition. It also brings out the positive impact of employment guarantee scheme, which has been a thrust area of the UPA government but has seen a cut in allocation in Budget proposals for 2012-13. The report...
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Building on Aadhaar
-The Business Standard In Budget, reformers win, NAC loses The consensus opinion that has developed about the 2012-13 Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday is that it was unambitious, especially in terms of reworking government spending. It delivered little in terms of a vision for reform, the argument goes, constrained as it was by the spending-hungry allies in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the entitlement-hooked Congress leadership. A...
More »The Food’s Off The Table-Harsh Mander
It is disappointing that the government has not taken any steps to provide for the Food Security Bill, which is in Parliament, in this budget. A significant announcement on it was anticipated this year; that would have been the only way to see it roll out in 2012. Now, I think, the government must be bargaining for legal processes to take over, which we know will take some time, before...
More »Economic growth and food security depend on healthy farm sector, whose pillar, the farmer, is still neglected by Ajay S Shriram
In India, agriculture and allied sector is the source of income for over 60% of rural population and its contribution to GDP has been consistently coming down and currently stands at 14.3%. For the Indian economy to grow at the rate of 8-9%, the growth rate of agriculture sector has to be more than 4%. The critical role of agriculture in the economy highlights the need for a larger investment in...
More »UN expert warns of global public health disaster caused by unHealthy foods
-The United Nations Globalized food systems and the spread of Western lifestyles has spawned an international public health disaster with over a billion people suffering from undernourishment while another billion remain overweight or obese, an independent United Nations expert warned today. “Our food systems create sick people,” said Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, as he presented his latest report to the UN Human Rights Council...
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