After the Congress’ recent political misfortune, the Opposition BJP may find itself in a bind if the Congress plan to push the ambitious National Food Security Bill (NFSB) through a special session is executed.

An indication by Food Minister KV Thomas that the government is contemplating convening a special session of Parliament for clearing Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s dream project has landed the saffron party in the proverbial catch-22 situation.

Siddaramaiah announces implementation of several promises in manifesto

Hours after being sworn in as Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah announced the implementation of several promises made in the Congress poll manifesto, including providing rice at Re. 1 a kg to poor families through the Public Distribution System from June 1.

SHILLONG: The Centre is likely to release a total amount of Rs 43 crore by the first week of June for the proposed computerisation of the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the State, official sou

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre on the Tamil Nadu government’s writ petition challenging the Centre’s decision to reduce allocation of kerosene to the State by 55 per cent from June 2011, from 65,140 kilo litres to 29,060 KL.

A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justices Vikramajit Sen and Kurian Joseph issued notice after hearing Additional Advocate General Subramonium Prasad, appearing for Tamil Nadu.

Nobel laureate upset at disruption of Parliament by Opposition

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is upset that disruption of Parliament has held up passage of important legislation including the UPA’s flagship National Food Security Bill. He feels that if the Bill is not passed — even if without amendments — several hundred children will go hungry or die from under-nutrition. The Bill has been criticised as “limited” and “targeted” by activists such as Jean Dreze and Kavita Srivastava, who on Monday shared the dais with Prof. Sen to advocate its passage albeit with changes.

JAMMU, Apr 4: Realizing need for introduction of Food Policy in the State, the Minister for CA&PD and Transport, Choudhry Mohammad Ramzan has said that implementation of the food policy would h

New Delhi: The government doesn’t want to be legally obliged to provide subsidized rations to the poor — under the National Food Security Bill — when they need them most such as during droughts, floods, fire, cyclones, earthquakes and other natural calamities.

In the proposed bill, the government has inserted a special provision to suspend its legal commitment to provide subsidized grains to the
poor whenever it — along with the Planning Commission — decides that such calamities have occurred.