A new draft of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) suggests offering cash compensation to poor people who are unable to receive their quota of subsidized foodgrains. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government will discuss the draft with state food secretaries in a meeting on 14-15 June. “The Central government shall set up, by notification, a central food security fund for payment of compensation to state governments in the event...

India's anxiety over erratic monsoon rains will become more acute as rising incomes and a growing population push up demand for farmed produce faster than supply, turning the nation into a major importer within 5 years. Forecasts of a normal monsoon this year have stirred hopes for smooth supplies and low inflation, reversing setbacks from last year's poor rains. But the country must boost yields if it is to feed...

Aruna Roy, the prominent political and social activist who spearheaded the campaign to institute the Right to Information Act in the 1990s, is an ardent critic of the anti-people and exclusionary policies of the first and the second United Progressive Alliance governments. A recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2000, she heads the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathana (a trade union of workers and peasants) in Rajasamand, Rajasthan,...

A military plane landed at the Tulihal airport here on Monday morning with 700 cartons of life-saving drugs from Guwahati. Life-saving drugs and many essential items became scarce in Manipur following a 41-day economic blockade imposed by Naga tribal students on two major highways. Routine surgeries were suspended in government and private hospitals due to lack of medical gas. Official sources said another plane was ready to airlift medical gas and...

The Food Security Bill is unlikely to see the light of the day this fiscal. According to agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, though the UPA government is committed to providing food security to all, the below poverty line (BPL) math and elaborate procedure required to draft this law will take another 8-10 months. Speaking in the capital on Thursday, Pawar said: “The procedure involves incorporation of statistics from Planning Commission about BPL...