National Food Security Act

No free lunches

The free food scheme is driven by electoral considerations, but its long-term fiscal risks outweigh the short-term gains

Centre makes PDS free for 810 mn people; annual outlay likely at Rs 2 trn

Govt merges certain benefits of PMGKAY into PDS

Wheat acreage up nearly 10% as rabi sowing nears halfway, shows data

Usually wheat is sown in around 30.5 million hectares of which so far around 15.28 million is already sown

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

India opposes group consultation on food subsidies programme at WTO

The members had expressed concern with India's "lack of full transparency" in taking recourse to the Bali Decision as well as in replies to certain questions raised in the Agri Committee

FCI foodgrains stock down by 37% from last year; yet higher than buffer

Centre's foodgrains stock managed by the Food Corporation of India remains 66% higher than the buffer norm

Centre extends free food grain scheme till Dec at a cost of Rs 45k cr

Move to cost the exchequer additional Rs 44,762 crore

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

'One Nation, One Ration Card' programme implemented across India

The implementation of ONORC was initiated in August 2019

Centre releases Rs 2.94 trn to FCI, states as food subsidy last fiscal

The Centre has released Rs 2,94,718 crore towards food subsidy during the last fiscal to Food Corporation of India (FCI) and states, which is slightly higher than the revised budget estimates. During the financial year 2021-22, the Department of Food & Public Distribution released Rs 2,94,718 crore towards food subsidy, under both DCP (decentralised procurement) and non-DCP operations put together, against the revised Estimates of Rs 2,92,419.11 crore. "This release of food subsidy is about 140% of the food subsidy released during 2020-21 and about 267 per cent of the food subsidy released during 2019-20," an official statement said. The subsidy has been released for procurement operations under MSP (minimum support price) and seamless distribution of foodgrains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) and National Food Security Act 2013 (NFSA). In the last fiscal, the department spent 99.83 per cent of its expenditure by incurring Rs 3,04,361 crores against net .

Second Covid wave, global prices could derail Centre's FY22 subsidy maths

The Centre's plan to start FY22 on a clean slate seems to have gone for a toss within just six months after it cleared the food subsidy backlog and paid its pending liabilities to NSSF

Centre to transfer Mid-day meal cooking cost directly to students' accounts

The one-time Covid relief transfer will cost Rs 1,200 crore; activists say amount too meagre

Centre gears up to distribute free foodgrains to poor under PMGKAY from May

The Centre on Saturday said it is gearing up for monthly distribution of additional 5 kg of foodgrains for free to 800 million PDS beneficiaries from May 1

Farm solutions

States will be forced to pay attention to farmer needs

Stunted progress

Increasing malnutrition among children is worrying

After hiking fertiliser, Centre may now review food subsidy outlay

Of the Rs 1.15 trillion budgeted as food subsidy for the fiscal year, Rs 1.05 trillion was spent by October

Hungry for nutrition

India has to revamp its food security programmes

Govt fails to update Food Act list, millions of migrants left in cold

Centre says 6.7 million new ration card holders added after lockdown for free grain

Those without ration card find it hard to access Centre's free grain scheme

Just one in four non-ration card holders in rural India got any kind of food support from the government, a recent survey showed