A much stronger focus was required on irrigation and water management. The FM merely acknowledged that it was a problem.
The Unique Identifiaction Authority of India is expediting creation of platforms for implementing the model, likely to include coverage of the Public Distribution System and other areas of subsidy, and also government's social sector schemes.
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.
'Agri reforms need to go beyond the limited concerns of these three laws in improving agriculture productivity in cereal and crop diversification and production patterns.'
It will also end the below and above poverty line (BPL and APL) demarcation, prevailing in the current public distribution system.
The government data released on May 17 showed a minor dip in headline inflation to 8.66 per cent in April, driven by a moderation in food and manufactured items prices.
The West Bengal chief minister dished out a prescription to improve the economic condition of the state.
The working group on food and public distribution constituted under the chairmanship of Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is likely to recommend using the numbers effectively for streamlining PDS.
Nilekani proposes centralised PDS network, model PDS software for transparency.
The state of Bihar will now monitor the public distribution system (PDS) through laptops to check corruption and to provide help to those living below poverty line (BPL), to get their monthly quota of essential commodities including food grain and kerosene oil, officials said.
The fiscal deficit, estimated at 4.6 per cent of the gross domestic product, is expected to be around 5.6 per cent, mainly on account of factors like subdued revenue collection, poor disinvestment receipts, high global commodity prices and increasing subsidy bill.
State links PDS to UID to plug leakages in food supplies but gaps remain.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday urged the states to strengthen PDS to enable the government insulate the poor from the adverse impact of inflation.
Officials said the Centre would have to bear an additional subsidy burden of Rs 4,161 crore this financial year, if this proposal was implemented.
Former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Gegong Apang was arrested by the Special Investigation Cell on Tuesday for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore public distribution system scam.
Measures announced in the past such as an export ban on onions, pulses, edible oil and non-basmati rice will continue. Restriction on the export of more commodities would be imposed, if required.
Despite the increase, at Rs 64.32 per litre ATF costs less than petrol and diesel.
The 12-digit unique number that the UIDAI will generate will be combined with the the smart card project of the Oil Ministry for distribution of PDS kerosene and domestic LPG through biometric identification of beneficiaries.
The conference was to launch a pilot scheme on smart card-based delivery of essential commodities under the targeted PDS in Haryana and Chandigarh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a relief package of Rs 20 lakh crore or about 10 per cent or GDP last week. However, many of the measures unveiled have been in the form of moves like loan guarantees which do not entail an immediate fiscal cost.
This Budget, the finance ministry may consider a proposal for a seed fund that would provide financial support to states willing to sell items other than foodgrain, sugar and kerosene through the public distribution system (PDS). The move, experts believe, will help reigning in food inflation that remains in double digits, despite moderation.
The petroleum minister's three-pronged approach does little to address the real issues of fuel diversion and adulteration, say experts.
The special investigation cell of the Arunachal Pradesh police on Tuesday arrested former state chief minister and senior Congress leader Gegong Apang from Itanagar in connection with Rs 1,000 crore Public Distribution System scam.
Eleven people, including three senior officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, were arrested in two separate cases this year for allegedly harassing and threatening those who sought details under the Right to Information Act.
However, experts say that unless clear guidelines are there, it remains to be seen how many people fall within the ambit and who remains excluded.
The ban on onion export is temporary and will be reviewed every two weeks until its prices decline below Rs 15 per kg.
Trade union leaders in the pre-Budget consultation with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday demanded reigning in prices of essential items and increasing exemption limit on income tax to Rs 2 lakh (Rs 200,000).
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.
Sources in the Rural Development Ministry said the actual expenditure incurred in 2020-21 will be higher than the allocated funds and it will at least be at par with this year's total estimated expenditure of MGNREGS.
On the complaint of shortage of foodgrain, the minister said lifting of foodgrain by states/Union Territories under TPDS and other welfare schemes has been less than the allocation made to them.
To check price rise, the government is importing some of the commodities to bridge the supply-demand gap and strengthening mechanism for providing subsidised items to poor, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday.
Concerned over rising food prices, planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday pitched for increasing supplies through imports and better use of the public distribution system.
A study by eminent economists, by Jean Drze, Reetika Khera and Meghana Mungikar released few days back shows that more than 100 million people are excluded from the PDS because the central government insists on using 2011 population figures to calculate state-wise coverage under the National Food Security Act.
A Right to Information activist who was in the forefront in exposing corruption in Public Distribution System, foodgrain and fuel distribution in the Marathwada region has been found dead in Nanded.
Replying to a debate on inflation in the Rajya Sabha, Pranab Mukherjee said he is not passing the buck to the states for controlling surging prices, but most areas like PDS and enforcing the Essential Commodities Act lay with them.
"We have suggested a fund for drought or flood, and when our production is hit. The fund will be with the states which the Centre will provide. The implementing agency will be the respective state governments," said K V Thomas, minister of state for agriculture and food.
With the first phase of Unique Identification Authority of India aiming to enrol 600 million residents of the country into its database in next four years and its possible use in improving the Public Distribution System, UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani on Friday said the journey will be 'long' and 'tough'.
The National Advisory Council, chaired by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, met for the second time on Thursday after its recent revival and unanimously endorsed the idea of universal access to the public distribution system (PDS) in rural areas.
The National Advisory Council, chaired by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, met for the second time on Thursday after its recent revival and unanimously endorsed the idea of universal access to the public distribution system in rural areas. It was agreed that a universalised PDS should be implemented initially in 150 districts, a member said.
The ministry has asked the oil marketing companies to further step up their efforts to curb adulteration of petroleum products.
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