The Rangarajan committee further dilutes the proposals for the food security bill   The Rangarajan committee set up by the Prime Minister to examine the recommendations of the NAC on the food security bill has submitted its report. It is not surprising to see that it has argued against even the minimalist framework of the NAC saying that expanding the PDS is impossible due to procurement and fiscal constraints. Although the full...

The Rangarajan Committee report is another move away from the vision of a comprehensive food security act. Undernutrition levels in India are among the highest in the world, and the problem cannot be addressed by just spending another Rs 10,000 crores or so on the Public Distribution System . The need of the hour is a comprehensive food security act that integrates a wide range of interventions, including maternity entitlements,...

Right to Food Campaign demands a universal PDS “It is a dishonest proposal of the government” The Right of Food Campaign has charged the Central government with lack of commitment in providing food and nutrition security to citizens with its reported decision to revise the issue prices of wheat and rice for the Above Poverty Line (APL) category of beneficiaries in the Public Distribution System (PDS). “This is the first step to finish...

The National Advisory Council's recommendations on the National Food Security Bill are in danger of being brushed aside. It is the fate of most advisory committees that the government accepts whatever advice suits its purposes and ignores the rest. The first version of the National Advisory Council (NAC-1) managed to avoid that fate to some extent, due to favourable circumstances. NAC-1 was able to persuade the government to enact the...

It came as a rude shock for parents of economically weaker sections (EWS) whose wards were denied admission under the Right to Education Act, which guarantees 25% reservation in schools at entry level. Most schools don't seem inclined to implement the provisions of the RTE Act as the state government has failed to frame rules in this regard. A few schools are not even accepting the forms under this category,...