-TheWire.in In recent years, NGOs have become increasingly involved in supplying meals to schools as part of the government’s midday meal scheme, particularly in large urban areas. Akshaya Patra is the largest of these, currently working in 10 states, feeding 1.4 million children each day. Centralised kitchens are vast and impressive. Huge quantities of food are produced in a mechanised manner and in hygienic conditions. The shiny kitchens contrast starkly with...

-PTI NEW DELHI: The government will on priority distribute nearly 27 million tonnes of wheat it procured this year under the relaxed quality norms through ration shops, welfare schemes and open market sales. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) procured 28.08 million tonnes of wheat this year, of which 26.62 million tonnes was purchased under the relaxed quality norms because the crop got damaged due to unseasonal rains early this year. FCI generally...

-Hindustan Times The picture of rural Indian life today that emerges from what is probably the world's largest study ever of household deprivation is sobering and sombre. It describes a massive hinterland still imprisoned in persisting endemic impoverishment, want, illiteracy and indeed hopelessness. It tells a story that every thinking and caring Indian must heed. Advocates of free markets, opposed to building a welfare state, have long argued that accelerated market-led economic...

-The Hindu Business Line New structure facilitates inter-state co-operation The recently announced National Agricultural Market aims to bring about a unified market through networking of mandis to facilitate seamless flow of goods and information. This may not alter the State- dominated existing agricultural marketing structure; but it calls for redefining their role and functions to make the concept more inclusive for farmers. Fear of rejection The networking of markets is expected to enhance access to...

-FAO September’s post-2015 development agenda summit of heads of state and government may well attract global headlines this year, but much of the really significant work is being executed behind the scenes. As statisticians lock heads to come up with a workable indicator framework to measure and monitor the ambitious Agenda, Vikas Rawal, Associate Professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, describes the make-up...