The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
The Rajya Sabha on February 02, 2024, issued the National Food Security (Amendment) Bill, 2024 to amend the National Food Security Act, 2013. The following has been stated: In section 4 which is about Nutritional support to pregnant women and lactating mothers, in sub-section (a), after the words "nutritional standards'', …
The UN warns that more than 400,000 children in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are severely malnourished and could die within months without emergency intervention. An 18-month-long combination of violence, mass displacement and slumping agricultural output are having a devastating impact on the very young, it said. The DRC — …
This publication provides an overview on the main issues debated during the development and passage of the India’s National Food Security Act (2013), which legally binds national and state governments to extend far-reaching social protection to the country’s population. It raises many lively and pertinent debates that may be useful …
With the State Food and Civil Supplies Department claiming that it was prepared to implement the National Food Security Scheme (NFSS) in Meghalaya the onus of implementing the ambitious scheme now rests with the State Cabinet. The scheme aims at providing rice and wheat at the rate of Rs.3 and …
The UPA-II government’s flagship programme, the Food Security Bill, which comes with a neat price tag of Rs 1.23 lakh crore, holds the promise of eradicating hunger. If passed, the bill, it is expected, will ensure foodgrain to 67 per cent of the poor. Surely, with elections round the corner, …
The food ministry’s opposition to the Shanta Kumar committee’s suggestion of diluting coverage of the Food Security Act is likely to rekindle the debate over subsidy burden. The committee, for reform of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), had recommended lowering of coverage to 40 per cent of the population, …
According to the National Food Survey 2007, there was a decrease in the number of children with malnutrition in India by one per cent compared to the previous survey. However, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh were the only two states which showed an increase in the numbers. Volunteer with Right to …
New Delhi : The food ministry is finalising a proposal to rechristen the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) as Indiramma Anna Yojana after the former prime minister and Congress leader. The food security Act won't be renamed. Food minister KV Thomas said the new name for the existing TPDS has …
Even before it is put into execution, UPA-II’s big-ticket scheme, the Food Security Bill, seems to be facing hurdles from within. The Congress-led government in Maharashtra has told the Centre that it is already facing a severe financial crunch and is capable of footing only 10% of the Rs-600 crore …
Will the Food Security Bill make our economy even more fragile? So far the answers to this question have distorted the picture completely, depending on whether they come from either the stock market or the activist. Development economist Jean Drèze’s voice re-shapes this into arguments of reason over fear. He …
Adoption of the Food Security Bill would be meaningful only if one can stop the leakages in the PDS and tame food inflation, cautions Ashok Gulati. The current situation of abundant foodgrain stocks and bountiful monsoons shouldn’t make us complacent as there would also be years of drought when grain …
‘The best way to feed the poor is to create more jobs’ Passing the Food Security Bill was the worst thing to do at this point of time, according to economist Rajiv Kumar. He tells Shaili Chopra that despite its noble intentions, the Bill promises to be an execution nightmare …
Ram Kumar, 36, a construction worker from Bihar's Madhubani district, does not have a ration card although he falls below the poverty line. His attempts to get a ration card have run into a maze of official delays. Denied subsidised foodgrain from the public distribution system (PDS) without a card, …
Where do you start when you have 116 bills pending and 16 working days to get some of them through? If you are the UPA Government, you start by making sure Parliament actually works, and working hours are accounted for. Stagnation has been the defining characteristic of UPA 2. According …
What if the average Indian was 30 per cent richer than the average Chinese? For one, India's per capita income would be $8,500 instead of $1,500 that it is today. That would also make India the world's second largest economy at close to $8 trillion. What if populist measures like …
The S R Hashim Committee report on urban poor has been put into cold storage by the UPA government. The report, submitted in December 2012, set out the criteria for identifying the poor living in urban areas for various government schemes, especially the National Food Security Act, 2013. While the …
Cost of ration, sugar in state PDS shops to increase The Union Government has agreed to financially support the Food Subsidy Scheme of the state government for the Above the Poverty Line (APL) residents of the state. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies GS Bali said this today while talking …
Food Security Bill might have been amended to prevent backdoor entry of contractors to provide micronutrients in meals through industrially-processed food, but the Jharkhand social welfare department is bringing in the food industry right through the front door in the name of seeking energy-dense food fortified with micronutrients to treat …
Having enacted its own Food and Nutritional security Act, Chhattisgarh has now simplified procedures for its implementation so that the benefits percolate down to all beneficiaries who constitute about 90% of the state's nearly 2.50 crore population. "We have simplified all necessary procedures, including the number of categories entitled for …
Government assures members that it won’t tinker with federal structure of governance The Rajya Sabha on Monday approved by voice vote the National Food Security Bill after the government assured members that it had no intention of tinkering with the federal structure of governance through the legislation. Members were informed …
