Managing our soil and water resources in a sustainable and equitable manner needs a new political vision, which can be expressed through the proposed Land Acquisition Bill and the recently formed Global Soil Partnership. On the basis of a proposal I had made three years ago, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) launched a Global Soil Partnership for Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation at a multi-stakeholder conference, held...
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The PDS is not failing or ailing by Ria Singh Sawhney
A survey conducted across nine states by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and Allahabad University suggests that the much maligned system has revived, prodded by politics, good governance and the apex court. It also found the poor to be averse to cash transfers Kotri is a mid-sized village in Desuri block (Pali district, Rajasthan), about 15 kilometres away from the nearest large bus stand and market place. We walked to...
More »‘Cash Grants Must Back Food Access’ by Keya Acharya
Studies by the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Academic Forum on food security issues in the three countries suggest that providing food access works best when backed by cash transfers. A paper on food security brought out by the UNDP’s Brasilia-based International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), under the Forum, shows that despite the great strides in food production made by India people in this country are just not eating enough. Citing indices...
More »Not in writing, but government to enforce sub-limits on rice & wheat exports by Prabha Jagannathan
The formal notification allowing exports of 5 million tonnes of rice and wheat under the open general licence (OGL) will not specify separate cap for cereals, but the government will monitor exports to ensure a ceiling of 2 mt for wheat and 3 mt for rice. "We have had problems earlier with the courts on specification of quantity ceiling under OGL exports and on specific allocation of export quantities to exporters....
More »Ban on onion export, off wheat
-The Telegraph The Centre tonight banned onion exports to check rising retail prices, re-imposing the curbs only six months after it lifted them following a dip. At the same time, it lifted four-year restrictions on overseas sale of wheat and non-basmati rice to ease storage problems following record production last season. “Onion exports have been banned with immediate effect. The ban will be reviewed on a fortnightly basis,” food minister K.V. Thomas said...
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