The fate of the ministerial conference was sealed after assistant US trade representative Sharon Bomer Lauritsen said permanent solution to the food stockholding issue was not acceptable to America.
In a narrow 218-214 vote, the United States House of Representatives on Thursday passed President Donald Trump's massive $4.5 trillion tax and spending bill -- his signature second-term policy package -- just ahead of the July 4 deadline.
Lionel Messi's much-hyped visit to the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday lasted 22 minutes, just enough to underline everything that is wrong in Indian football and the state administration's mismanagement.
A public interest litigation was filed on Saturday in the Supreme Court seeking quashing of controversial Food Security Ordinance on the ground that the constitutional provision has been misused for pre-election propaganda and political gains.
The Centre's move on Chandigarh has raised the hackles of various parties in Punjab, with Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal terming it as a "direct attack" on Punjab's identity and constitutional rights.
All eyes are on the Bharatiya Janata Party's National Executive that will be held in Goa over the weekend. Speculations are rife that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi may be made the party's campaign committee chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
A day after the Congress reached out to Mulayam Singh Yadav seeking support for passage of the Food Security Bill, the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday decided to support the legislation but will move amendments seeking to give farmers their due for crops and giving more grains per person.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union and the Mahila Aghadi have also opposed.
While the Delhi and Haryana governments have declared that they are all set to roll-out the food security programme on August 20 -- Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary -- there is confusion among the chief ministers about the implementation of the ordinance which gives the right to people to receive adequate quantity of food grains at affordable prices. Anita Katyal reports.
West Bengal government has expressed surprise at the way the UPA government was rushing through legislation on the Food Security Bill when the general election was "knocking at the door" and without a full-fledged implementation mechanism.
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Monday sought to blame the opposition for disruption in Parliament, saying they were "bursting debates" and "killing arguments" in the House as he backed the Food Security Bill in its present form.
A day before the Cabinet considers issuing an ordinance to implement government's ambitious National Food Security Bill, Food Minister K V Thomas said all UPA allies, including Nationalist Congress Party, are on board and there was a consensus on issuing an ordinance.
The government is likely to firm up next week a view on how to go about the food security bill. Indications to this effect were available on Wednesday with the government sources saying a decision will be taken only after Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's return from Rome where he has gone to attend Food and Agriculture Organisation conference.
The two major changes include: keeping an option open for supplying more than 3 kg of subsidised foodgrains to general households and widening its reach to include lactating women, destitute and aged people and providing nutritious food to children.
'What the US appears to be doing is to force India to be "the buyer of last resort", on whom their products can be dumped, 1.4 billion people have to eat something, so why not eat American corn?' 'What is exercising the Trump lot is the fact that most of the farms are in solidly Republican Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin,' points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
The much-touted Food Security Bill was taken up in Rajya Sabha, with opposition terming it as a "gimmick" with an eye on elections and accusing government of violating constitutional norms by issuing an ordinance when Parliament session was less than a month away.
The Food Security Bill is likely to be a game-changer for the Congress ahead of five assembly polls this year-end.
Dismissing the talk about early elections, the Congress said the food security measure is a game changer that will provide right to cheap food grains to 82 crore people.
Various estimates of the extra cost to the government for an improved food security Bill are doing the rounds, but many agree the Union government's proposed food subsidy bill would double.
The Food Security Bill, which could not be taken up despite being listed in the Lok Sabha'a agenda since Monday, will not be part of business on Saturday.
The government on Wednesday reached out to opposition Janata Dal-United as continued disruptions in Parliament blocked passage of the United Progressive Alliance's 'game changer' Food Security Bill that aims to provide foodgrains at cheap rates to 67 per cent of the population.
Even as frenzied debate continues over the Food Security Bill ordinance in Parliament, here are 7 facts that you must know about the legislation.
Observing that the Bharatiya Janata Party is in favour of passing the Food Security Bill with some amendments, party president Rajnath Singh on Monday asked the government to advance the monsoon session of Parliament for the purpose. "We are ready for a debate on Food Security and Land Acquisition bills. We want these bills passed with some amendments. The monsoon session should be advanced for this," he told reporters.
The government on Wednesday sought public comments on the draft National Food Security Bill, which seeks to provide a legal entitlement to subsidised foodgrains to 75 per cent of the country's rural population and 50 per cent of urban India.
Food bill, which is dubbed as the world's largest social welfare programme, aims to give legal right over an uniform quantity of 5 kg foodgrains at a fixed price of Rs 1-3 per kg via ration shops to 67 per cent of the population.
'India's farmers will be unable to compete with the US, given the subsidies that the latter provides its farmers.'
'We have to think about getting our priorities right. I think we should be in a position to make public understand about the real debate'
India's fiscal policy is not supportive of monetary measures that the country's central bank is employing to fight rampant inflation, the prime minister's honorary economic advisor and former International Monetary Fund chief economist Raghuram Rajan said, while singling out the proposed Food Security Bill as a particular cause for concern.
Moody's currently assigns 'Baa3' rating on India, with a stable outlook. 'Baa3' means medium grade with moderate credit risk.
The food security Bill is likely to adopt a three-pronged strategy to ensure food for all, particularly for the most vulnerable sections of the society. The National Advisory Council (NAC) in its initial discussions on the Bill had talked about a universalised scheme.
The Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and the Aadhar card could bring electoral dividends to the government as it tries to hard to woo the poor, reports Renu Mittal
The bill, considered by many in the Congress as a gamechanger which could boost its prospects in the Lok Sabha election, was tabled in the Budget Session but could not be taken up for discussion as Opposition stalled Parliament over a rash of scams under United Progressive Alliance.
The government plans to convene a special session of Parliament for passage of the Food Security Bill as a divided Cabinet Thursday shunned the idea of promulgating an ordinance to implement the watershed legislation.
Countering the government's and Congress' allegations that the National Democratic Alliance has been an irresponsible and disruptive opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said the Manmohan Singh led government is not keen on passing the Food Security Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill. The main opposition also picked holes in the UPA report card on its performance in the last four years and said it is making false claims of success.
Faced with fresh agitation on the issue of Telangana and continued uncertainties over the food security bill, the Congress top brass including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi deliberated on the way ahead.
Making it clear that he was not opposed to the National Food Security Bill, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday said he would prefer it to be approved by Parliament after a debate.
Charging the Congress-led UPA government with not incorporating the amendments suggested by her in the Food Security Bill, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Sunday said her party AIADMK will vote against it in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Concerned over poor budget allocation for the farm sector, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Sunday said it may be difficult to implement the proposed Food Security Bill without adequate funds to boost agri-output, a must for increased foodgrain requirement.
Ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament, former Congress ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday indicated its support to the UPA's 'game-changer' Food Security Bill even though it has wanted a few changes in it.
'Geopolitically and diplomatically it's a very difficult situation for India.'
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