The report on illegal mining in Karnataka, compiled by Lokayukta Santosh Hegde and his team, may spell the end of the first Bharatiya Janata Party government in south India. While the report is voluminous, here are a few details of what the Lokayukta and his team have found while probing the illegal mining scam. In the report the Lokayukta clearly makes charges against Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and Minister for...
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PDS: Reform or Reject? by Rukmini Shrinivasan
Some interesting findings emerging on the Public Distribution System. A recent study of 100 villages in nine states says that leakages in the Public Distribution System are being plugged and diversion of grain has reduced, except in Bihar. The bad news, the researchers say, is that there are serious deficiencies in the BPL list. The study was conducted in 106 randomly selected villages in two districts each of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,...
More »Cash crisis threat to record harvest by Samar Halarnkar
Less than a week after India announced a record harvest, Hindustan Times has learnt that the nation’s main grain-buying agency is running out of money for its massive nationwide purchase operation. Over the last month, the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) has twice stopped payments to state governments, various grain-purchasing agencies and rice millers who buy wheat and rice, the main food crops, from millions of farmers, a senior...
More »Extension Of Woes by Lola Nayar
The Noida-Greater Noida imbroglio will be instructive for the draft land acquisition bill In The Works... * Government to acquire land, “public purpose” to be redefined * Land acquisition only after getting written consent of 80 per cent of landowners * Monitoring authority to be set up at the Centre and states to ensure compliance * Payment component split into part-cash-down and remaining in annuity for 33 years * Post...
More »‘The National Food Security Act must include strong safeguards'
-The Hindu A letter to the Prime Minister on the importance of a ‘near-universal PDS.' July 21, 2011 Dr. Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India Respected Prime Minister, We are a group of research scholars and student volunteers who have just spent three weeks surveying the Public Distribution System (PDS) around the country. We are writing to share a few thoughts on the National Food Security Act in the light of this experience. Our survey covered...
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