Global megatrends such as income inequality, climate change, demographic shifts, technological progress, and urbanisation are shaping the future of societies. Yet, their quantitative impacts on development
Recommends a mandatory coverage of 67 per cent of population for subsidised grains The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food has recommended a mandatory coverage of 67 per cent of the country’s population for subsidised rice, wheat and millets under the National Food Security Bill with a reduced and uniform monthly entitlement of 5 kg per person. As opposed to an overwhelming demand from States and civil society groups for universal public distribution system to ensure “food and nutrition security,” the UPA government’s ambitious Bill proposes coverage of 75 per cent rural and 50 per cent urban population at 2011 census figures.
Inclusion, exclusion categories to replace BPL, APL labels The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food and Consumer Affairs has suggested that food entitlements under the National Food Security Act be made available to 67 per cent of the population, leaving out the 33 per cent who pay taxes, have a pucca house and so on. It wants the ‘priority’ (Below Poverty Line) and ‘general’ (Above Poverty Line) categories to go and be replaced with “inclusion” and “exclusion” categories. The identification of beneficiaries for subsidised rice and wheat under the Public Distribution System will be done by State governments.
Among Indian cities, the public transport system in Bangalore is the worst in terms of the numbers using it, modes of transport and connectivity, said M.A. Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic. He was speaking at the inauguration of a campaign, Oil and Gas Conservation Fortnight, organised jointly by public sector oil companies Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corp. The campaign involves awareness drives across the city, with a particular focus on school and college students.
The government's move to issue compulsory licences (CLs) for three more patented cancer drugs is a jolt to multinational pharmaceutical companies. The plan is to issue CLs for Trastuzumab (or Herceptin, used for treating breast cancer), Ixabepilone (used for chemotherapy in breast cancer treatment) and Dasatinib (or Sprycel, for leukaemia). These cost an average of $3,000-4,500 (Rs 1.64-2.45 lakh) for a month's treatment. Last March, the Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma had won the first ever CL, to manufacture its generic version of Bayer's patent-protected anti-cancer drug, Nexavar. With the licence, Natco sold the drug at Rs 8,880 for a pack of 120 tablets, a month's therapy, as against Rs 2.8 lakh, the cost at which Bayer sells Nexavar.
Notwithstanding ‘serious differences’ among its members, a parliamentary panel reviewing the National Food Security Bill, 2011, will submit its report to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday. The government aims to introduce the Bill in the forthcoming Budget session of Parliament. FE had reported last month that the panel would submit its report by mid-January. The 31-member panel, chaired by Lok Sabha MP Vilas Muttemwar, had been examining the Bill since October last year. Flooded with around 1.5 lakh petitions as well as comments from state governments, experts and civil society groups, the panel had to hold daily meetings to finalise its report.
India will host the first ever global ministerial meet – 'E 50:50' – on elephants in the Capital from November 14 to 19. The conference, expected to be attended by 50 countries that harbour wild populations
‘40% Of Smokers Want To Quit The Habit’ Jaipur: Alarmed over several deaths reported in the state due to cancer caused by tobacco consumption, the medical, health and family welfare department has launched a massive anti-tobacco awareness campaign in rural Rajasthan, which is one of the biggest campaign in the country covering over 9,000 gram panchayats. It is an apparent move of the health department to capitalize on the state’s machinery for the noble cause by clubbing the anti-tobacco campaign with the state government’s “Prashasan gaon ke sang” campaign, which was launched on Thursday.
Up to half of world's food goes to waste, report says Up to half of all the food produced worldwide ends up going to waste due to poor harvesting, storage and transport methods as well as irresponsible
The Parliamentary Standing Committee examining the National Food Security Bill is considering to recommend to the government to do away with the categorisation of “general” and “priority” (similar to the below poverty line) households in the legislation and provide uniform food guarantee to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population. Keeping in mind the fiscal implications, the committee is likely to suggest bringing down the food grain entitlements from 7 kg per person per month which is proposed in the Bill to five kg per person per month.
The state government has decided to dedicate the year 2013 to its daughters as the gap between male-female ratio continues to be wide in some districtsa such as Jammu, Samba and Kathua even though the
