Food Security Act

PM Modi providing free foodgrains to 800 million people: Pralhad Joshi

The UPA government introduced a food security law in 2013 haphazardly eying next year's general elections, but it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who took the initiative to provide free foodgrains to 80 crore people in a systematic way, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Wednesday. The Union food minister made the remark in the Lok Sabha when Congress member Praniti Shinde said the National Food Security Act, 2013, which aimed to provide subsidised foodgrains to the poor, was the brainchild of her party's leader Sonia Gandhi. "The Congress brought the food security act in 2013 only because of the election. It was introduced in a haphazard manner. Even rules under the act were not framed," Joshi said. He said when the NDA government assumed charge after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the initiative to ensure free foodgrains to the poor as he understands their pain. "Now Prime Minister Modi is providing free foodgrains to 80 crore people in the country

Fssai calls quick commerce firms for talks on food safety issues on Tuesday

This comes at a time when concerns have been raised about food safety standards violations by e-commerce and quick commerce platforms for packaged food products

Cabinet approves infusion of Rs 10,700 crore equity in FCI in FY25

The decision is aimed at enhancing the operational capabilities of FCI in fulfilling its mandate effectively

Food security in India: Centre's PMGKAY and its extension explained

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 4 announced the extension of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana scheme for another five years

India urges WTO members to start text talks for public food stockholding

India has urged WTO members to start text-based negotiations from this month on finding a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes, an official has said. The official added that the European Union (EU) is ready for talks with India on the stockholding issue. The issue came up for discussion at an agriculture negotiations meeting on October 2 in Geneva. It was chaired by Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Turkiye. At that meeting, the EU offered a positive response to the chair's textual suggestions related to the safeguards mechanism aimed at preventing illegitimate exports stemming from excessive food stocks, the official said. The Geneva-based trade official also said that the EU explicitly recognized that the safeguards and anti-circumvention are indeed the key provisions which deal with the possible impact of public stockholding policies. India urged members to commence text-based negotiations as soon as possible, preferably at the senior

Forced to cut food aid to millions globally because of funding crisis: UN

The United Nations has been forced to cut food, cash payments and assistance to millions of people in many countries because of a crippling funding crisis that has seen its donations plummet by about half as acute hunger is hitting record levels, a top official said Friday. Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Programme, told a news conference that at least 38 of the 86 countries where WFP operates have already seen cuts or plan to cut assistance soon including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and West Africa. He said WFP's operating requirement is USD 20 billion to deliver aid to everyone in need, but it was aiming for between USD 10 billion and USD 14 billion, which was what the agency had received in the past few years. We're still aiming at that, but we have only so far this year gotten to about half of that, around USD 5 billion, Skau said. He said humanitarian needs were going through the roof in 2021 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukrain

Food, fuel, fertiliser crisis big challenges for world: PM at SCO summit

"Are we able to meet the modern challenges? Is SCO becoming an organization that is fully prepared for the future?" Modi asked

Delhi's state food commission not constituted as mandated: Officials

Delhi has not constituted a state food commission and not framed a grievance redressal mechanism as mandated by the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, Raj Niwas officials said on Monday. There was no immediate reaction from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the capital on the issue. Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has approved the draft of the Delhi Grievance Redressal Rules pending since 2013 and slammed the city government for the "delay", the officials said. "Delhi has not constituted a state food commission and not framed a grievance redressal mechanism as mandated by the NFS Act, 2013 even after 10 years. The mechanism and the commission meant to look into critical aspects of transparent and corruption-free implementation of the TPDS (Targeted Public Distribution System) under the NFSA was even ordered to be put in place by the Supreme Court and the high court way back in 2017, within the deadline in 2017 itself," a senior official said. However, despite the apex ..

Centre directs states to disclose stock to check unfair practices

The Union Food Ministry on Tuesday directed state governments to ensure compliance with the June 12 wheat stock limit order and ensure disclosure of stocks, thereby checking unfair trade practices. In a virtual meeting with state food secretaries, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra asked state governments to obtain disclosures of wheat stock held by wholesalers/traders, retailers, big chain retailers and processors to check the unfair practices and to bring transparency in the availability of wheat. The central government on June 12 notified stock limits on wheat for wholesalers, traders, retailers, big chain retailers and processors till March 31, 2024. It also decided to offload wheat and rice under Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS). "The measures were aimed at cooling down the prices and prevent hoarding and speculation," an official statement said. A user manual regarding submitting the stock has also been shared with state governments for ease of filling up the data on the portal ...

Wheat price rise normal; have enough stocks to meet demand: Govt

According to FCI, the wheat stock in Central pool on April 1 next year is expected to be 11.3 million tonnes, higher than the buffer requirement of 7.5 million tonnes

Raise coverage under food security Act: Supreme Court tells Centre

The apex court directed the Centre to re-determine coverage in accordance with Section 9 of the NFSA

Odisha top among states on Food Act implementation; UP in second place

Goa and Chhattisgarh at the bottom of the pile on implementation of National Food Security Act

UP, Gujarat ask Centre to restore wheat quota under two food schemes

States raise matter in central government's meeting on food security, say beneficiaries complaining

India at 71st on Global Food Security index 2021 of 113 nations

India is ranked at 71st position in the Global Food Security (GFS) Index 2021 of 113 countries, but the country lags behind its neighbours Pakistan and Sri Lanka in terms food affordability

Best of BS Opinion: Prioritising expenditure, moving on infra agenda & more

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for Wednesday

Govt to provide 5 kg extra food grains free to 800 mn in May and June

Scheme on the lines of PMGKAY-1 will cost the exchequer addl Rs 26,000 crore in FY22

Covid disrupted food security; will reverse progress in hunger fight: Govt

The pandemic has severely disrupted the food security and nutrition for millions of people around the world, and will likely reverse the progress made towards ending hunger by 2030

APMC alternative: Is Odisha model of decentralised procurement ideal?

Sanjeeb Mukherjee looks at how the Odisha model of decentralised procurement has a few key advantages, but certain challenges, too

Adding value to your food

There are speculations on whether the government's policy on genetically engineered products has undergone a subtle, even if undeclared, change. If it is so, it is welcome

Shivraj transfers Rs 137.66 cr food security allowance to school students

He also transferred Rs 42 crore to 2 lakh 10 thousand cooks of mid-day meal kitchens in their bank accounts