As food inflation rises again and the prices of daily consumption vegetables and fruits remain high, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has convened a high-level meeting here on Monday to review the situation. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will chair the meeting, which is expected to be attended, among others, by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit. The latter has been invited to work out the possibility of opening more outlets for sale...
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Father struggles to get NREGA wages, son dies in hospital by Supriya Sharma
A week after he lost his ailing son, and ten months after he worked on a village road project, Pitbasu Bhoi finally got the ten thousand rupees he had earned under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Program (MNREGA). "Of what use is the money now? I have just immersed my son's ashes. When I needed the money to save his life, I did not have it," says Bhoi. The...
More »Suspend onion imports for 10 days, NCCF tells government by Gargi Parsai
Even as the price of onions remained high in domestic retail markets, the National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India (NCCF) on Monday urged the government to suspend the import of the vegetable for 10 days, by when the prices are expected to fall due to better arrivals. “The recent import of onions from China and Pakistan has created panic among our farmers, and many of them have started harvesting the crop...
More »Rangarajan panel rejects NAC recommendation by Gargi Parsai
Favours subsidised foodgrains only for poor The C. Rangarajan Committee on the proposed food security bill favours legal entitlement of subsidised foodgrains to the poor (below the poverty line), but has rejected the National Advisory Council's recommendation that above the poverty line (APL) households be partially covered, saying it is not feasible at the current levels of grain production and procurement. “The assured delivery of subsidised foodgrains be restricted to the really...
More »It’s for States to identify BPL families by Gargi Parsai
The Prime Minister’s Expert Committee on the proposed National Food Security Bill has differed with the National Advisory Council not only on its recommendation for subsidised foodgrains entitlement for the non-poor population, but has also recommended that the identification of the poor beneficiaries for the proposed benefit be done by State governments and not by central agencies as suggested by Sonia Gandhi. The panel, headed by C. Rangarajan, Chairman of the...
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