The draft Food Security Bill makes it compulsory for state governments to pay a food security allowance to targeted sections in case of failure to supply foodgrain through a sweeping welfare scheme targeted at nearly three-fourths of the population. The amount will be decided by the central government. The draft bill also presses for a radical overhaul of the food distribution system by giving incentives to independent agencies that procure...
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No safety study undertaken on Jaitapur project: Justice Shah by Vinaya Deshpande
Lamenting the lack of public debate in India, the former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, A.P. Shah, said during the public hearing on the safety, viability and cost efficiency of nuclear energy here on Saturday that the Jaitapur nuclear power project would be a catastrophe if all the safety concerns were not addressed. Lamenting the lack of public debate in India, the former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, A.P....
More »Stupid to abolish PDS, says Plan panel’s Abhijit Sen
-The Indian Express A day after the World Bank suggested that India should shrink its public distribution system (PDS) in favour of more cash transfers, Planning Commission Member (Agriculture) Abhijit Sen told select mediapersons it would be “stupid to abolish PDS”. A World Bank review of India’s social sector programmes titled “Social protection for a changing India”, commissioned by the Planning Commission, said though the PDS costs just 1 per cent...
More »Distribute foodgrain to BPL families: SC
The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed anguish over the high rate of malnourishment-related deaths in the country even as the Centre said that 50 lakh additional tonnes of PDS grains should be distributed among below poverty level (BPL) families by next two weeks. A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma repeated its earlier stance that if godowns were overflowing or foodgrains were being destroyed on account of other reasons,...
More »Check Govt Grain Buys, Use Cash Transfers or Food Coupons: Study by Prabha Jagannathan
Massive grain procurement to meet the requirements under the proposed national food security law could drive out the private sector and have larger implications on the state of the domestic procurement market, a study on food and nutritional security has warned. Apart from impacting exports and cereal price in the open market, rising public procurement will only make it costly to buy, store, transport and distribute grain, the study said, adding...
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