'Depriving the poor in the name of corruption is not a solution': Aruna Roy
Giving all households -- priority and general -- a common entitlement of not less than 25 kg at Rs 3/2/1 for rice/wheat/millets will solve the problem of identifying the poor who deserve to be subsidised under the Food Security Act, says RTI and right to food campaigner Aruna Roy, dismissing various criticisms of the Bill
Food Security Bill: Making sense of the numbers
We are already spending Rs 67,310 crore on food subsidies. The National Food Security Bill will increase this by only Rs 30,000 crore, just 4% of the corporate taxes that are being booked as revenues foregone, says Sachin Kumar Jain. The added expenditure will still mean a subsidy of only Rs 3.25 per person per day
Kerala, West Bengal record significant declines in farm suicides
While the Big 5 states have shown sharp spikes in farmer suicides during 2003-10, P Sainath points out why other states have recorded a decline in farm suicides
In 16 years, farm suicides cross a quarter-million
In 2010, 15,964 farm suicides have been reported by the National Crime Records Bureau, writes P Sainath, and close to two-thirds of them have occurred in the five states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, AP, MP and Chhattisgarh
The case against cash transfers
If the system doesn’t work, don’t fix it, just dismantle it, the government appears to be saying in the matter of cash transfers in lieu of subsidies, writes Sachin Kumar Jain
The middle path on the food security bill?
How much can you load onto a single law without having it collapse under its own weight, asks Harsh Mander in this article that answers questions raised on the NAC’s draft Food Security Bill
Millet deception?
The Uttarakhand government’s promotion of the cultivation and consumption of millets is welcome, says Biju Negi. What is not welcome is the simultaneous pushing of chemical fertilisers and micronutrients in this officially organic state
Why India's 'growth' focus is ignoring the food access question
Celebrating the fact that per capita agricultural income is increasing faster than overall per capita income, the government is targeting 4% growth in agriculture in the Twelfth Plan period. But this is a rosy view that does not stand up to scrutiny, says Rahul Goswami
The cost of the urban land grab
Should our focus be on earning enough or providing enough, asks Rahul Goswami. The Yamuna Expressway and development project will occupy 43,000 hectares of land currently being cultivated by 1,191 villages, removing the potential to harvest about 100,000 tonnes of foodgrain annually
A bid to control food flows from field to thali?
Is the CGIAR, an international research consortium backed by a powerful agri-biotech coalition, exploiting India’s rampant malnutrition and healthcare deficits to roll out a dangerous new programme to promote ‘biofortification’ and ‘micronutrients’, asks Rahul Goswami