One of the first issues the reconstituted National Advisory Council (NAC) will have to deal with is the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA). Given the inability of the government to control food prices that remain unacceptably high and the scant regard the ruling United Progressive Alliance has shown for food security, it should be taken up on an urgent basis if the government is to preserve its credibility among...
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Mandatory cheap foodgrains for poor may cause hike in oil prices by Gargi Parsai
It is the availability of adequate foodgrains to meet the mandatory requirements under the proposed National Food Security Bill that worries the government, not the enhanced subsidy such a move would entail. From what the government is planning it appears that the subsidies on petroleum products would go to meet the requirement of providing cheap foodgrains to the poor under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and to bring the Above...
More »UPA blinks, paves way for food security law by Anil Padmanabhan & Sangeeta Singh
Bowing to pressure from the political leadership of the Congress, the government will consider making food security universal, but at a higher price for the rich. Food security was an electoral promise of the Congress before the 2009 polls, but the initial draft of the Bill said that it would apply only to the poor. After Congress president Sonia Gandhi refused to accept the Bill in that form, an empowered group...
More »'Raise PDS grain price for APL population' by Gargi Parsai
The government may shift to per capita allocation of foodgrains and raise the price of wheat and rice meant for the Above the Poverty Line (APL) population under the Public Distribution System (PDS) to meet the objectives of the proposed National Food Security Bill. Raising the price of APL foodgrains is an “unavoidable adjustment,” the Planning Commission has said in a note it has prepared for the Sonia Gandhi-headed National...
More »Test run for new BPL gauge
A pilot survey will be launched next month to assess the number of the poor in the country on a new set of parameters ahead of the scheduled BPL census in April 2011. The government has decided to launch the pilot project in 260 villages across the country to test the parameters suggested by a former Planning Commission member amid a debate on the best way of doing such counts. The project,...
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