Only three percent of Indians pay income tax; our tax-GDP ratio is among the lowest in the world. This must change. Our elites must realise that India's poverty has damaging consequences for them, and that they can help decrease it. The food security bill, with all its limitations, will hopefully contribute to generating such awareness, says Praful Bidwai.
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Sakshi Balani presents an FAQ on the Food Security Bill that was passed by Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Alleging that people's confidence has been shaken due to the economic mismanagement by the UPA government, a Trinamool Congress MP on Wednesday said it was worrisome that the rupee slid further after passage of the food security bill.
Cabinet had earlier this week deferred a decision on the much-discussed issue on this ground.
The current cost of the food subsidy is Rs 1 trillion.
If the government manages to deliver on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's scheme of providing grains to the needy at nominal rates, it could mean an end malnutrition issues in rural areas.
The Andhra Pradesh Congress and Telugu Desam members of Parliament are to strategise their approach on how to plan an agitation inside Parliament on Friday. Groups of MPs have already fixed dinner meetings. News is that Telangana MPs are also planning such meetings.
Lamenting that lot of time has been wasted in the last two to three Parliament sessions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday asked the opposition to cooperate in the passage of the legislative business including the "most important" ordinance on Food security bill.
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Can the leaky public distribution system, or PDS, deliver the subsidised grain to two-thirds of the population?
Terming the Bill as a 'non political bipartisan issue,' he hoped to have all political parties on board as the Bill would benefit over 75 per cent of rural households and 50 per cent of urban households in the country.
Critical of the hurried clearance of the food security ordinance, Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh said on Thursday the United Progressive Alliance government was just doing a "political gimmick in a hurry" before the 2014 general elections.
Amid the government's plan to take up and possibly pass the ambitious Food Security Bill in Parliament, Congress has issued a whip to its members in Lok Sabha to be present in the House on Wednesday and vote in favour of the legislation.
Unlike in langars, free feeding under the food security bill may force people to swallow their shame.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday termed Food Security Bill a "historic legislation" and asked party leaders to publicise its importance to masses as they gear up for elections scheduled early next year.
The food security programme is not restricted to the poor and the population covered by it is about three times the number of people below the poverty line, Parliament was told on Thursday.
Telangana Rashtriya Samithi chief K Chandrasekara Rao is on his way to Delhi, where he will reportedly meet the Congress top brass and urge them to pass a bill approving the creation of Telangana as soon as possible.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Monday described the United Progressive Alliance's ambitious Food Security Bill as nothing but a 'vote security bill'.
'The poor must be allowed to self select themselves. A poor family must be given a ration card on demand and the government must accept responsibility for providing subsidised food grain.'
The food security Bill's focus ignores changes in agriculture and eating habits.
All those who have been dismayed by the food security ordinance should thank Manmohan Singh and his colleagues for a neat optical trick, says T N Ninan.
Earlier this week, the Empowered Group of Ministers approved the draft of the Food Security Bill, which will entitle 75 per cent of rural households and 50 per cent of urban households to subsidised foodgrain.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati supported Centre's food security scheme but disapproved of its step to bring an ordinance, saying the measure should have been discussed in Parliament and passed with consensus.
Terming the ordinance promulgated by the Union cabinet to implement the Food Security Bill as a "cruel joke" on democracy, Bharatiya Janat Party President Rajnath Singh said that his party would not oppose the passage of the bill in Parliament but seek amendments to it.
There is a vast grey area between a bill that promises to ensure that no one goes hungry and the political economy of producing food, writes Rajni Bakshi.
It was a faux pas by Treasury Benches members when they voted against a clause in the Food Security Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday night, thinking it was a division on an amendment moved by the Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj.
The government had pegged food subsidy at Rs 90,000 crore (Rs 900 billion) in the 2013-14 Union Budget.
Political commentators are of the view that to blunt the negative impact of double anti-incumbency, the UPA-II has to be seen as doing something like Indira Gandhi's Garibi Hatao.
'Food security' will, unfortunately, become a giant boondoggle.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh asked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to stop playing politics over the United Progressive Alliance government's food security programme.
The demand for cash transfers was highest in Bihar at 54 per cent, followed by 34 per cent in Uttar Pradesh and 22 per cent in Jharkhand, where the access to PDS foodgrain was found limited.
The real challenge before the government is to improve the institutions that are charged with the responsibility of delivering food to the consumer through the existing public distribution system (PDS).
Food insecurity and hunger are rooted in bad policies, faulty design, poor governance and a lack of political will.
Alagu Perumal Ramasamy from Chennai has plans to supplement the diets of a substantially large population in a limited way by raising fruit-bearing saplings.
This comes a day after President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, which replaces the MGNREGA and has a provision for 125 days of wage employment for rural workers.
The foodgrain guarantee is part of the proposed National Food Security Bill.
According to the Cabinet note, 75 per cent of the rural and 50 per cent of the urban population are to be brought under the food security umbrella.
Food Security Act will be fully provided for and subsidy to be 2 per cent of GDP for next two years.
Going ahead with its "game changer" measure for next Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Tuesday rolled out the ambitious food security scheme in three states -- Delhi, Haryana and Uttarakhand with party President Sonia Gandhi hailing the measure as "historic" and "unparalleled".
In a culture where children take up the profession of their father, her becoming a politician was seen as natural and acceptable.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India this week aims to secure energy supplies, stabilise defence deliveries and ensure bilateral trade continues smoothly despite strong Western sanctions, GTRI said on Tuesday.
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