Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
New Delhi With the grain stocks held with Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other state government owned agencies crossing a record level, the food ministry has proposed additional allocation of grain to BPL and APL families for dealing with storage crunch. Under the proposal sent to finance ministry, the …
New Delhi As part of its plan to create two-million-tonne-capacity silos for storing grain across the country, the government has approved creation of silos in 10 states with the capacities ranging from 4 lakh tonne to 50,000 tonne. The state-level committees on silos are identifying suitable locations, which would be …
Barely 24 hours before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to reconvene a meeting to discuss policies on export of farm products and storage of grains, the government has conceded another major demand of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar by allowing export of caesin, a value-added milk product. “Export of casein …
Ministry proposes four options to the EGoM to expedite shipment of sweetener. Union food ministry has suggested four options to expedite sugar exports after the panel of ministers on food sought a mechanism that allows faster shipments. “We will present all the four options before the Empowered Group of Ministers …
New Delhi The government is set to lift a ban on fresh cotton export registration, although efforts to resolve the controversial issue amicably by putting a cap on further shipments eluded a consensus on Sunday, a day before the meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss farm exports. …
New Delhi India’s grain output is estimated to exceed the previous forecast to hit a fresh peak of 252.56 million tonne this crop year through June on higher-than-expected output of rice and wheat, although coarse cereal and pulse production will trail last year’s level. The record harvest will keep key …
New Delhi Notwithstanding apprehensions expressed by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on the proposal of giving grain as part payment of wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, food minister KV Thomas on Sunday continued to support the idea. Thomas said, “There is enough surplus grain to be given …
New Delhi In a bid to reduce pilferage of grain, food ministry and UN body World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for scaling up the modernisation of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). WFP, which is currently supporting a pilot project in Orissa’s Rayagada districts, …
In a major step forward to augment capacity for storing foodgrains for the public distribution system, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has notified 10 sites in as many States for construction of modern silos which shall be declared as mandis enabling farmers to directly sell their produce there. The …
It is back to the 1970s as far as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is concerned. The job guarantee scheme is set to provide food grain as part of wages. The rural development ministry, which found its NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) allocations squeezed in the Budget, has …
Move unlikely soon, as proposed Food Security Bill promises grain at rates lower than current ones at ration shops The Centre is considering raising the prices of wheat and rice distributed through ration shops to bring down its food subsidy bill. Before 2010, proposals to increase the price of grains …
The alarming financial health of the State was revealed in the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in the Assembly on Friday which said that in five years, the State’s fiscal liabilities increased by 46.17 per cents. According to CAG report, the fiscal liabilities of the State increased from …
KOCHI: The much-hyped Suchitwa Mission’s sanitation project for the coastal panchayats of Chellanam, Kumbalangi and Kumbalam still remains on paper. With the project delaying indefinitely, the chances of it bringing any relief to the people in these places during monsoon seems remote. These three panchayats have been reeling under acute …
In the first example of his intention to take “difficult decisions” to contain the ballooning subsidy burden to control the fiscal deficit, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday denied permission to food minister KV Thomas for about 26.5 million tonnes of additional food grain allocation to states at subsidised rates …
Allaying fears that the ambitious food security bill may not be enacted in the next financial year due to meagre allocation for food subsidy in the Budget, the government on Wednesday said the legislation was expected to implemented by December-end. The food ministry is mulling changes in various set-ups like …
Implementation of the National Food Security Bill will entail a subsidy of a whopping Rs 1.12 lakh crore, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister KV Thomas informed the Rajya Sabha today. Food subsidy as per 1993-94 poverty line and 2000 population census is Rs 88,976 crore and as per the 2011 …
New Delhi Food minister K V Thomas on Thursday ruled out clearance of food security Bill in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament, saying consultations are still on to sort out problems raised by states and that it can be taken up only in the next Monsoon session. “How can …
KOLKATA, 15 MARCH: In the middle of the ruckus over the hike in passenger fares in the Railway Budget, the Trinamul Congress has fired another salvo, instructing its Parliamentary party to take up the issue of additional allocation of rice to the state in Parliament after the Centre refused to …
Framework of corpus in nascent stage, to come up in 2012-13 Budget The government is planning to come up with a price protection fund to cushion the burden of food subsidy, which is expected to grow manifold under the new Food Security Bill. The proposed fund, under the ministry of …
Over 13 lakh farmers bring their produce to Punjab’s foodgrain mandis twice every year, each in five to seven consignments. And a fraction of that number — represented by the politically and economically powerful lobby of nearly 40,000 commission agents — decides what they take back home. Under instructions of …
