The food ministry has submitted a ‘Plan B’ for the proposed Food Security Bill to the parliamentary standing committee for consideration after getting clearance from the prime minister, a source in

Uttar Pradesh gets the maximum amount at Rs 277 crore, followed by Madhya Pradesh Rs 227 crore and Maharashtra Rs 196 crore

The Centre has allocated over Rs 1,800 crore to states under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) this year to raise foodgrains output by 25 million tonnes in the 12th Five Year Plan period. Uttar Pradesh gets the maximum amount at Rs 276.9 crore, followed by Madhya Pradesh Rs 226.87 crore and Maharashtra Rs 196 crore, an official statement said here today.

If the Centre is not yet convinced that it can provide foodgrains to everyone and not just to those who are below the Poverty Line, it can turn to the example of several State governments who have already done so, said Surya Kanta Mishra, Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, here on Wednesday.

“We are demanding that everyone must be given 35 kg of rice or wheat at Rs. 2 per kg…. Is it possible to do so? If there are any doubts then the Centre only has to look at the manner in which State after State has continued to provide subsidised foodgrains to the people.

Experts have warned that vital corn-producing and soybean-producing states in the U.S. are in the throes of intensifying drought conditions — a revelation that has resurrected concerns of sparking another global food price shock. In 2008, it was a spike in food grain prices in global markets that led to widespread rioting and political instability across nations.

In a report released last week, the U.S. Drought Monitor agency (USDM) noted that “The widest drought to grip the U.S. in decades is getting worse with no signs of abating

The government has in principle decided to expand the coverage of population under the proposed Food Security Bill to include almost 70 per cent of Indians, who will have the legal right to cheap food, against the earlier proposal of 64 per cent of the same.

It will also end the below and above poverty line (BPL and APL) demarcation, prevailing in the current public distribution system (PDS). However, entitlements under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (for the poorest of the poor) would continue as in the current structure.

The country’s foodgrain output will touch an all-time high of 257.44 million tonnes in 2011-12, according to the Government’s latest estimates.