They contest Planning Commission’s poverty estimates  Food Bill exercise calls for detailed discussion and exclusive meeting: States Transfer of food subsidy in cash to BPL families won’t serve the purpose: Maharashtra The Centre has asked the States to put a cap on the number of Below Poverty Line (BPL) beneficiaries under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) for purposes of theproposed National Food Security Bill. It also wants the BPL...

Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised that “nobody will go hungry” in the country, the Centre is asking the States to put a ceiling on the number of Below Poverty Line (BPL) beneficiaries under the Targeted Public Distribution System for the purpose of the National Food Security Bill that is in the making. Poverty estimates The Union government wants to limit the “targeted” BPL beneficiaries to 5.91 crore...

A Food Security law will be meaningful only if it is based on universal food provision and ensures that every citizen’s nutritional needs are met. At an outlet of the public distribution system in Erode, Tamil Nadu. States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have defined BPL in such an inclusive way that the vast majority of the population is included, which makes their food distribution schemes...

  Civil Society activists and assorted rural experts are anxious that soon-to-be-launched Right to Food Bill might slip from its ambitious goal of nutrition security for all to a trite tokenism. The main worry is that cumulative effect of all the clauses, sub-clauses and small print must not stop short of making food available everywhere at all times so that no citizen sleeps hungry. The worry is on many counts. The...

UPA's promised blanket of Food Security backed by a law could shrink very quickly leaving several crore families out of its cover if the food ministry's proposal on Food Security Act finds favour with the Cabinet. In a note that has left several state governments seething with anger, the food ministry has recommended that the number of families that get subsidised foodgrain under the Food Security Act be reduced to...