Rural Development in India

[Jamal K. Malik]

What happened to Food Security Act?

I think Before next major election.

[ramana]

I saw a segment on Zeetv about a small town in Kangra Valley, Himachal Pradesh where a Westerner has transformed local economy by creating a jam making industry called Bhuira Jams. Apparently they are no preservative home made jams made in batch process and allows villagers with two to five trees make jam in her home/factory. She provides locals with jobs and an incnive to preserve the fruits via jam making. And she had rave letters from ex Army Lt Gens commenting on the quality of the jam.

Found an old news report;
http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/77893/

Getting their bread and butter from jam

MANRAJ GREWAL Posted: Sep 11, 2005 at 0000 hrs IST



BHUIRA, RAJGARH:
WORDSWORTH would have penned an ode to it. Nestled amidst a green hill with a heavy sprinkling of apple trees and flowers, it’s inarguably the prettiest cottage industry you would have ever come across. Welcome to the factory of Bhuira Jams, a label known all over the country for its organic preserves.

Started by Linnet Mushran in 1992, this all-woman affair has not only set a new benchmark of taste in preservative-free jams and marmalades, but also emancipated women in this sparsely populated sub-division of Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh.

Sarita Devi, the slim production in charge of the squeaky clean, aromatic workshop, adjusts her green apron as she tells you how the jam factory changed her life. A matriculate mother-to-be from Bagol village, she was tired of her kitchen-bound existence when Linnet set her free 13 years ago. ‘‘My standing in the family went up several notches once I started bringing home a steady pay packet,’’ she says, adding with a smile how she’s also learnt a smattering of English. Thirteen years ago, she hadn’t ever seen jam let alone taste it, today she’s a connoisseur. And so are 50 others who pitch in at the unit.

Commerce was far from the mind of the blue-eyed Linnet, a Britisher married to a Kashmiri ICI Paints officer, when she bought this cottage in 1992. But the fruit trees that came along tempted her to try out her granny’s jam recipes. It was friends finally who convinced her to market her out-of-the world jellies and marmalades.

Today you can take your pick from over 40 tongue-tickling flavours—from apple jelly wild mint and bitter orange to peach chilli, here is God’s plenty.

Home grown help

• It’s a case of the factory coming to the doorstep of rural women who had no other job avenues. But the produce is sold all over India • The unit has not only empowered women who can easily set up units of their own but also small fruit growers who no longer have to depend on the middleman • The jams are a right fit for the untouched Rajgarh sub-division known as the peach belt of Himachal
THE jams are the bread and butter for women across seven villages. From young girls like Vandana Chauhan, an intermediate from Dhanoke village who manages the billing, to toothless grannies like Balmati, uncared for at home, they thrive on them.

Vimlesh Sharma, a teacher at Bhuira anaganwadi school and a post office agent, can vouch for the change. ‘‘Earlier, these women didn’t have a penny to their names, now they hold separate bank accounts. And no one refuses them a loan.’’

This is not all. They’ve also learnt to read, write, and above all, think for themselves. Take the case of the unlettered Ram Kali, the unofficial manager. Today she lives at the cottage without her family. ‘‘I’ve no husband, and no care in the world,’’ she laughs.

As Linnet puts it: ‘‘I am spreading wealth not merely creating it.’’ Her annual wage bill of over Rs 5 lakh is a testimony to it. Marginal farmers with only a fruit tree or two too will agree, for now they download their produce here instead of trekking up to Rajgarh mandi. Even young goatherds manage to make some money from the mountain berries they collect and sell to Linnet. ‘‘The blackberry jam we make is absolutely unique thanks to these children,’’ smiles Linnet.

Rajeshwar Goel, the young SDM of Rajgarh, who’s proud of the fact that the preserves have made Bhuira a brand name, says the enterprise is tailormade for Himachal. ‘‘It’s a non-polluting, labour-intensive cottage industry actually run from a cottage with local raw material but with a wide market that extends to all metros of India.’’ From Fab India and all major organic food stores to hotel chains like Maurya Sheraton, Bhuira jams certainly go places. It also helps to have Ashwin Mushran, the actor now on Great India comedy show and model, as a son though he’s never really advertised mom’s jams.

Linnet, who shuttles between Delhi and Bhuira, says her army of workers often run the operations without her. With the jams getting more popular by the day—Linnet receives considerable fan mail—the scale of preparations is going up. Last week, for instance, they canned 40 quintals of apples.

Ask Linnet about her future plans, and she waves a hand at her jam women, ‘‘It’s up to them.’’ After all the jams, forgive the syrupy cliche, sweeten their lives.

[joshvajohn]

India’s subprime crisis?
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php? ... &Itemid=70

Decentralisation of Natural Resource Management in India: An Institutional Perspective*
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/146410442


Hunger stares you in the face’
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Hunger-st ... 49540.aspx

Hunger kills
http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2010/06/3577

[RamaY]

Another Successful Village - Jegurupadu, East Godavari Dist - Andhra Pradesh.



Leader/Visionary: Panchayat President Ms. Yadala DeevaDeevenaKumari Stalin

Key Initiatives:
- 100% cement Roads
- Panchayat waste collection system
- Community toilets (Panchayat constructed toilets for poor people in govt land, one per family. The family is given the lock to their toilet and the family owns/maintains it)
- Drainage system
- Public park in the burial ground area
- Villagers pay their taxes on time

[joshvajohn]

Extreme poverty still pervades India
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/771 ... india.html

Farmers' suicides in India chronicled
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/articl ... chronicled

Karnataka govt to probe child trafficking
http://www.zeenews.com/news634359.html

Poverty rate in India will dip to 24% by ’15
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Po ... 15/637682/

[Murugan]

LEARNING CURVE

Mittal’s Calling

You’ve known the man who built a telecom empire with 140 million subscribers. Now, Joji Thomas Philip tells the story of how Sunil Mittal is building 550 schools to educate 1,00,000 poor children deep inside India’s villages

GURBHEG SINGH, A TEACHER AT THE Sathya Bharti School in Punjab’s Khanpur village, remembers Harpreet Kaur as a shy little girl. She spent the early minutes of her first day at school in 2007, fiercely determined not to come out of hiding from behind her father’s legs. Singh had to pry her away from the father and into the classroom. But now, Harpreet is a transformed child. This April, at the end of her third year at school, she brought her mother Jaspal Kaur to the parent-teacher’s meet. The mother was asked for her thumb impression. That was the normal practice. Most parents of the children studying in the school are illiterate. But then, recalls Singh, this mother did something unexpected. She asked for a pen, and hesitantly wrote out her name in English. Eight-year-old Harpreet had been teaching her mother.

Sunil Mittal, the chief dreamer, architect and financier of this school, and also 236 similar schools across five states, hasn’t heard Harpreet’s story yet. When he reads this, he will be happy to know that his thesis that education can be a multiplier is being proven true. “If you can teach a child, then her family and her future is taken care of,” says Mr Mittal as he warms up to an hour long interview on this project, which is now underway at the Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Bharti group. These schools are being run at an annual cost of Rs 28 crore.

Harpreet is one of the 30,000 students who are now studying in Mittal’s free English-medium schools in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. This is likely to increase to 50,000 in two years. The plan is to eventually build 500 primary schools and 50 secondary schools which will enroll 100,000 students by 2013.

Not only is this one of the largest such direct interventions by a business house, but Mittal also claims this is one of the largest affirmative action initiatives in the country.

“More than 21,000 of the 30,000, or 70%, of the students in these schools are from SC/ST and OBC categories. The ratio is the same among the 1,100 teachers now on the foundation’s rolls,” says Mittal.

“We have not gone looking for SC/ST students, but we have gone into catchments that are very poor. And, by this very design, we have got them,” Mr Mittal adds. Moreover, 47% of the students are girls.

AMANDEEP Singh, now in fifth standard, loves to work on clay as much as he likes to get his hands on a computer. He did not get to see either during his first few years at a government school in Ghumana, Punjab. But he discovered both when his parents took him out from the government school and enrolled him in the Satya Bharti school.

Most of them have been set up as an alternative to poorly-run government schools. There is a world of difference between the two.

Kirthi Sharma, a head teacher of one of the foundation’s schools near Ludhiana, points out that simple things like clean drinking water, working infrastructure, clean toilets were some of the things that the 191 students in the school cherished. A replacement teacher is also sent from a nearby school or from the foundation if a teacher goes on leave, ensuring that all classes are always staffed.

Each of these schools is built according to a blueprint drawn up by Delhi-based architect Navneeth Malhotra. The Foundation invited several architects to make a pitch for the project and were given a Rs 20-lakh cost cap for a school building. Finally, Sunil and brother Rakesh Mittal handpicked Malhotra.

Each school is located in half-an-acre of land and has five classrooms (for standard 1-5) and a staff room. Other facilities include toilets, a vegetable garden and a playground. Every school also has an internet connection. “We send weekly updates on attendance, books, and uniforms to Delhi on email. We also download teaching manuals, instructions and, sometimes, even additions to the menu amongst other things,” says Anamika Kappor, head teacher in a school in Punjab’s Ludhiana district. The schools run on two shifts and have between 5-7 teachers whose salaries start at about Rs 4,500. The head teacher is paid about Rs 7,000. On an average, the foundation spends about Rs 12 lakh per annum to run each school.

The Bharti group’s managerial skills are quite evident in the way these schools are run. Like every group company, the Bharti Foundation has a CEO in Vijay Chadda. He quit the army in 1992, held a string of highprofile corporate jobs, including that of CEO of Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Kuoni Travel, before he took a pay cut to join the foundation in 2008.

Sunil Mittal occasionally visits some of these schools when he travels to Punjab and Rajasthan; his elder brother Rakesh who is the co-chairman of Bharti Foundation and the head of the group’s CSR activities, goes there often. But it is Chadda who runs the day-to-day operations.

He has a team of 1600 employees; 1100 are teachers, while the rest are involved in logistics, training, curriculum design, and other support roles. Three state-heads oversee the functioning of about 90 schools each, and report to the headquarters in Delhi.

The centralised training wing and a team of 10 trainers prepare the curriculum and coach the teachers. Training is a 365-days-ayear operation. “There are subject specific modules happening all the time — for instance, the maths or science teachers of all schools in that district will be called to a centralised location and taught new tools and skill sets,” explains Mr Chadda.

AMANDEEP Singh, the fifth grade student who discovered clay and computers at the Sathya Bharti school, is distraught. His days at this school are coming to an end. Sathya Bharti is a primary school, and at the moment, does not offer anything for students who pass the fifth grade. It has only one secondary school, which was recently opened in Amritsar in partnership with the Punjab government.

Kirthi Sharma, principal at the Bharti school near Ludhiana, has seen three batches of standard five students pass out. She roped in other teachers and persuaded parents to let the children continue their education. “Last year, 10 students passed out and we have ensured that all joined government schools,” she says.

Though it has 236 primary schools, the Bharti Foundation is planning to set up only 25 secondary schools, that too over the next 3 years.

Mittal’s plan is to have each of these 25 secondary schools absorb all the students passing out from 10 primary schools in the vicinity. He chose this hub-and-spoke model for various reasons.

Foundation executives say it is impossible to upgrade all primary schools to secondary schools. “The latter would require labs for subjects like Physics and Chemistry and teachers for such specialised areas,” Mr Chadda said. Funding the infrastructure and finding the teachers for 236 such secondary schools would be a challenge. That’s why it settled for one secondary school as a hub for students coming out of 10 primary schools.

But foundation executives admit that many primary students may miss out because they may not travel to the secondary school which could be several kilometres away. The foundation has no plans to run school buses, but it is working with village heads and panchayats to get them to organise tractor trolleys, etc.

Mr Chadda says the primary schools could be extended to class six if the local community helped in building another classroom. This has already happened with 6 schools in Rajasthan. “When they contribute, there is a sense of ownership from the local community, which is vital for the long-term success of such projects,” explains Mr Chadda.

The Rajasthan government is undertaking joint surveys with the foundation to convert many of the existing schools to senior secondary schools. The World Bank has also shown interest, Mr Chadda added.

There are other problems too like 20% attrition among teachers. The foundation pays only a third of the salaries when compared to a government school. “Many teachers use this as a platform to gain experience before moving on,” he says. “We pay higher than other private schools in the locality, but being a charitable organisation, we cannot match government salaries,” he adds. He believes attrition will come down once the secondary schools become operational. “Primary school teachers can be promoted — this will be an incentive,” he said.

Finally, what happens to the students after secondary school? Mr Mittal says that the foundation is working on a proposal to ensure that all students pick up a skill during their final years in the secondary school. “We will teach them skills like carpentry, electrical work, etc., and certify these skills through CENTUM, a group company,” he adds.

MITTAL didn’t initially start off with such a big vision. Like many businessmen, he started out by writing a few cheques to NGOs like Akshay Patra and Adharshila. Soon, he realised the NGOs did not have the scale to make a big impact.

Next, he tried providing financial support to one school in every district in Madhya Pradesh, and funded mid-day meal programmes. But even this had limited impact.

That was when Mr Mittal decided to do it himself. He started the Bharti Foundation in 2000 with a corpus of Rs 200 crore. The dream for 500 schools that would educate 100,000 poor children was taking shape in his mind.

He studied the US model where individuals and companies had pledged long-term commitments towards philanthropy. In 2006, he visited the Gates Foundation in Seattle and had lunch with Bill Gates’ father. He also went to the Rockefeller Foundation. He was inspired and convinced that direct intervention was the way to go.

Early on, there were many challenges, and the biggest was to convince panchayats to allot half acre of land for each school. “Initially, most panchayats were suspicious,” explains Mittal. Things have changed since.

Families first experimented by sending one of their children to the Bharti schools. Soon everyone followed. Pravjot Singh, a 4th standard student in Ladowal, was the first to join. Now, Pravjot has two brothers and five cousins in the same school.

The community in Sopara, a remote village near Jodhpur, donated stones for a boundary wall and Sriram Mehgwal, an 84-year-old resident, whose grand children attend the school, built it single-handedly. “I am overjoyed to see my grandchildren in this school,” he says.

Soon, the Rajasthan government offered 49 schools in the Neemrana and Ajmer blocks for adoption. It moved existing teachers to other schools and gave the foundation a clean slate. The foundation then invested Rs 5 lakh to renovate each school and hired new teachers.

It was a brave move considering the political ramifications of handing over stateowned and run schools to corporates. But, like his businesses, Mittal wanted to scale up fast here too.

The foundation also enjoys the support of companies, especially Bharti’s business partners. “IBM is putting a computer in every school with games and other features meant for education. PwC and E&Y are doing the audit of the entire foundation free of cost. Deutsche Bank has adopted four schools and Wal-Mart has adopted one,” says Mittal.

Deutsche Bank’s CEO and managing director (India) Gunit Chadha says that the bank’s partnership with Bharti was aimed at providing quality education to underprivileged children in India.

“Even some individuals who got in touch with us and agreed to fund the cost of running, say two or five schools,” says Mr Mittal. Employees of Bharti companies also contribute under a scheme where the company will donate an equal amount.

BHARTI Foundation CEO Chadda’s first encounter with philanthropy began with an argument with his daughter. The ex-army colonel won a car in a lucky draw in 1997. She was eyeing the car. But Chadda won her over, collected the gift in cash, and donated it to initiate four scholarships for primary school children — two with the local rotary club and another two under the Gurkha regiment with whom he had served.

He met Sunil Mittal exactly a decade after that. He was to be interviewed for the role of the CEO of the foundation. Chadda had his doubts about the project. This was his first meeting with Mittal. “I was worried about sustainability…the group’s commitment towards this,” he recalls. But the interview changed everything. “He explained his vision and I could see his commitment,” says Chadda. He remembers asking Mittal why he was doing all this. Those of us who have been given much, need to give back much, came the reply. Mittal made the choice to give many years ago. “This is very different from writing a cheque (as charity to NGOs),” he says. “You don’t have the choice not to fund it in the next year. You are in it for life.”

Source Economic Times, 24th June, Page 8

[joshvajohn]

Poverty assessment begins as India considers Right to Food bill
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connec ... 936956.htm

EGoM on Food Security awaits NAC’s views
http://cricket.expressindia.com/news/EG ... ws/638196/

UPA blinks, paves wayfor food security law
http://www.livemint.com/2010/06/2221463 ... l?atype=tp

[joshvajohn]

Govt lets 30 lakh tonnes of paddy rot
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Govt-lets ... 64097.aspx

Finding a fix for food security
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Findi ... ity/637178

India at an inflection point in food processing: Experts
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/econom ... 66714.html


It will be good to decentralise FCI and also make it professional regional centres competing among themselves.
It can also be a semi-governmental and semi-private (similar SPIC) agency to meet food security bill with subsidiaries but also efficient and also possibly a kind of profit making independent organisation. Four regions - such as South, North, East and West regional independent Food supplies through different FCI kind of agencies.

There is also a need for investment in the processing units.

[Jamal K. Malik]

Dr.C.P. Joshi Launches AWAASSOFT- a Web Enabled Software for Indira Awaas Yojana

Union Minister for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Dr. C.P. Joshi today clicked the mouse to launch a web enabled software for Indira Awaas Yojana named as AWAASSoft at the inaugural session of a two day long Performance Review Committee meeting to take stock of the progress under the flagship programs of the Ministry Of Rural Development at National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC) here today. He congratulated the ministry personnel in expediting the digitization of the work which was earlier being done on manual basis. Dr. Joshi expressed the hope that from now onwards the stake holders will be able to take stock of the progress of rural housing schemes in their areas from their own locations.

AWAASSoft- An e-Governance Solution for Indira Awaas Yojana is a local language enabled workflow based transactional level management information system to facilitate e-governance in the system.

[joshvajohn]

India lets grain rot instead of feeding poor
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-let ... 77688.aspx


Stop the hunger pangs
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2010/07/25/sto ... 200400.htm

Hunger spreads as foodgrains continue to rot in Madhya Pradesh
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/hunge ... desh-39514

It shows a rotten governance in India.

Where is the food security bill?

[joshvajohn]

Food Security in India An Urgent Issue
http://newsblaze.com/story/201007271109 ... story.html

[AnimeshP]

Mall cuture in UP villages too

Not many know that malls exist in villages too and they are growing faster in numbers than the urban ones. These rural malls are posh, sleek and are driven by state-of-the-art technology akin to urban malls. But in some respect they are far more utilitarian than the urban ones. A villager can buy branded t-shirts, pairs of jeans, washing power or mobile phone or a DVD player; refill diesel in his tractor and take more for his pump sets, carry an LPG cylinder home, buy seeds and fertilizers and even interact with agronomists to improve agriculture

So when last year Amar Singh, 29, a small farmer from village Dakarganj, Faridpur, Bareilly (243 km north west of Lucknow) entered the mall in Bareilly he never knew that his would begin making an extra income of Rs 6,500 a year. “I have a small farm of three acre. The ‘doctors’ (this is what he calls agronomists) were there. I just started speaking to them and they reached my field. They suggested me to grow watermelons as an intercrop (a crop that is grown within the vacant rows of spaces between a main crop) among the rows of my sugarcane crop. I adopted the practice and it increased my income,” said Amar Singh.

[joshvajohn]

UPA has ensured food security for rats, says Left
http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2 ... s-left.htm

Heartless politicians in governance!

Right to Food: Can India deliver to its poorest and hungriest?
http://www.ndtv.com/news/photos/album-d ... ngriest%3F

[joshvajohn]

Food fight: When will we get freedom from hunger?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 308903.cms

[joshvajohn]

Can’t give away free grain as SC says: Sharad Pawar
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Can-t-giv ... 89039.aspx

Food Security in India
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/opinion/l19india.html

[joshvajohn]

Acting against hunger
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home ... 426996.cms


Corporate India can change the face of Mid Day meal
Monday, August 23, 2010
Hasan Mulani, Mumbai
http://www.fnbnews.com/article/detnews. ... ctionid=11

Pawar misled PMO over rotting grains'
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 423512.cms

Can't give grains for free: Pawar
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/1809

Rotting grain suits FCI fine
SHARAD JOSHI
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/201 ... 490700.htm

Rs 60,000 crore is the cost of rotting food grain every year. Yet, millions go hungry
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main46.asp ... pinion.asp


Comments: I think it is time for Sarad pawar gracefully to exit Agri ministry and safeguard other positions. Bring someone who has a kind heart for the poor and Agri industry.

[joshvajohn]

National Food Security Mission Should Be Linked With
The Proposed National Food Security Act
http://www.countercurrents.org/dsharma280810.htm

CS saved India from going with begging bowl: Pranab
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/n ... 73434.html

[Haresh]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink ... Earth.html

“Humans need to become part of the cycle, literally, using recycled sewage to restore fertility to the land. At the moment we drain it out to sea – it could be used to increase yield and health of crops.”
Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University

The article is very interesting and raises issues, however I have just thought of an opportunity.

I have previously raised concerns about sanitation in India. What to do with all that turd!!
This seems to be the answer, it could be composted on an industrial scale and used as fertiliser, the fertiliser import bill would be cut, the urban sanitation issue addressed and a huge new business opportunity created.

[joshvajohn]

Hungry for a week, three dies
http://english.samaylive.com/regional/j ... 71484.html

[joshvajohn]

Distribution of food grains an order, not a suggestion, SC pulls up Pawar

Read more: Distribution of food grains an order, not a suggestion, SC pulls up Pawar - India - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... z0yBX5xaUs

[Jamal K. Malik]

UNICEF Report Shows Significant Increase in Maternal and Child Health Indicators in the Country

The findings of the survey are a testimony to the positive results of the RCH –II Programme and the efforts being made under National Rural Health Mission.

[joshvajohn]

Why PDS overhaul is a must for India's food security!
http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2 ... curity.htm

The long road to food security
http://www.dailypioneer.com/280534/The- ... urity.html

A meal plan for all of India
http://www.asianage.com/columnists/meal ... -india-737

Duty on gold and gems to fund govt's food security plan
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story ... -plan.html

[joshvajohn]

Order on free grain to poor can't be executed: Manmohan Singh
http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/07/stories ... 590100.htm


It is essential for Indian government to understand the concept that right to food does not mean that food should be available at free of cost. If I think of Amerthya Sen's concept, it is to create a freedom where one may find a choice to get out of their unfreedoms. So the government can execute a plan for development or project through which people have a choice of buying this food. It means that the food is available to the People below and above the poverty line at the affordable costs. Also there is an income available for the people to to buy this food.

The problem of income comes only in those areas which are affected by draught or by flood or by any other natural disasters and differently able people or even the children and possibly vulnerable ones such as elderly who cannot work. For these exceptions food can be made available at very low price or at no price. But for others it is basically the distribution and availability of food at an affordable cost.

there are people who live below poverty line because there is no resouce available to these people either to produce the cost or to produce their own food. In such areas the food can create work that will enable people to create their own income and thus buy the food at the lower costs.

No way free food should be available to those people who are able to work and healthy.

I do think keeping the rotten food in the FCI goodowns is a completly against the interest of this nation. Refusing to distribute at a very low cost or at no price is another way of murdering masses but in the name of maladministratiojn.
The fear that free food can create a lazy generation is a wrong generalisation. The right to food is basically about distribution of the food, its accessibility, avaialability and affordability.

Indians are hard workers they do not depend on free food. but unfortunately nature does not help many farmers or labourers and thus do not create jobs. Again it is also a burdern for many families who support their children for education and thus pay their little income to private schools and go to night bed hunger.

All the politicians should fast for few days then they will understand what is hunger like. Many millions go hunger at night to their bed by tying a wed cloth around their stomach. Many of them can become naxalites and terrorists often find easy to hire such people to fight our nation.

Unless resources are shared in a fair and pragmatic manner (not necessarily in an ideal manner) India will never eradicate its terrorism in her own soil. We have to become a grown nation with at least many onboard not as hungry ones.

[joshvajohn]

Land acquisition, food security bills on government frontburner
http://sify.com/finance/land-acquisitio ... faceb.html

In India the granaries are full but the poor are hungry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/se ... rices-poor

Food Corporation of India sees Food Rights Day visitors
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_f ... rs_1434473

Why the poor in India need free foodgrains
http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2 ... grains.htm

[Jamal K. Malik]

Free food is not a Food security!

[joshvajohn]

joshvajohn

No way free food should be available to those people who are able to work and healthy.

The problem of income comes only in those areas which are affected by draught or by flood or by any other natural disasters and differently able people or even the children and possibly vulnerable ones such as elderly who cannot work. For these exceptions food can be made available at very low price or at no price. But for others it is basically the distribution and availability of food at an affordable cost.

I do think keeping the rotten food in the FCI goodowns is a completly against the interest of this nation. Refusing to distribute at a very low cost or at no price is another way of murdering masses but in the name of maladministratiojn.
The fear that free food can create a lazy generation is a wrong generalisation. The right to food is basically about distribution of the food, its accessibility, avaialability and affordability.

Indians are hard workers they do not depend on free food. but unfortunately nature does not help many farmers or labourers and thus do not create jobs. Again it is also a burdern for many families who support their children for education and thus pay their little income to private schools and go to night bed hunger

.

i quote myself from the previous posting


Problem of distribution
Poverty and rotting food
By Devinder Sharma
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/957 ... -food.html

We have given food security model: Raman
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Int ... 527652.cms

[joshvajohn]

INDIA: PM’s Observation On The Supreme Court
Friday, 10 September 2010, 4:06 pm
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1009/S ... -court.htm

Not a grain of truth
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Not-a-gra ... 97806.aspx

India Stuck With Glut of Grain
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 61428.html

Manmohan opts for the poor to starve
By Raja Murthy
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LI11Df02.html

No free food but India as a growing nation there should not be people without access to food. This can be effectively dealt with through the food security bill. Each district administration need to focus on the people without access to food and see how these people can have access to food at an affordable price. If there is no affordability on the side of the people then conditions need to be created such as jobs to earn themselves (already have right to work). It is a kind of putting together some of the previous government activities and thus trying to eliminate the hunger in India due to poverty. Creating a space where people can contribute to government development plans and programmes on the one hand and on the other they can also have access to food at affordable price.
But when India can give millions away to Pakistan, Srilanka and Bangladesh for natural disaster affected people why they cannot give to the Indian poor who are affected by natural draught and differently abled people and older generations who cannot afford to earn themselves the food?

There should be different criteria for different groups and thus it is possible for a better India.

[A_Gupta]

Arundhati Roy
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... tion-ss-05

[joshvajohn]

Hunger in India: 'The real cause is lack of political will'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... -actionaid


Distribute, procure, store and sow
M S Swaminathan
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/ar ... epage=true

[joshvajohn]

Hungry for action
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Hungry-fo ... 02608.aspx

Keynes-Hayek dilemma
http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/op-ed/ke ... 08534.html


50 p.c. of world hungry in India
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderaba ... -india-748

Rotting foodgrains and insensitive policies
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/201 ... 350900.htm

Farm ministry comes under criticism over Rs 7K crore warehouse plans
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 596198.cms

Rotting food grains: BJP urges farmers to unite
http://news.oneindia.in/2010/09/18/rott ... unite.html

[joshvajohn]

Saving for a rainy day
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Saving-fo ... 03458.aspx

[joshvajohn]

Towards another green revolution
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home ... 637614.cms

PM calls for agile food procurement, distribution policy
http://netindian.in/news/2010/09/28/000 ... ion-policy

[naren]

(link x-posted from nation on the march thread)

UK school enlists Indian maths tutors online

Pupils at a north London primary school have been improving their maths - thanks to the internet which has put them in touch with teachers thousands of miles away in India.

Can we use this technique to reach out to rural school kids ? Is this a cost efficient way to setup remote schools ? With Sakshat+3G hitting the markets soon, such strategies need to be explored.

[joshvajohn]

Right to Food bill pits Montek against Sonia
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/right-to-foo ... 37-64.html


Montek is cheating! He does not want to give people food when there is a lot of rotten food out there in FCI.

Montek should be removed from the NAC altogether as Congress is doing what it has promised to people in the election. If it is used only for election then Supreme court should intervene such cheating parties should not be allowed to contest one time in the election. Unless there is such radical steps are taken.

There is no money out there. What is being asked for through the Food Security Bill is to make food available to the hungry mass at a reasonable price. THere is a need to balance the act of paying to the farmers and subsidising it to people.

The gap can be filled wither by making people to earn or providing the food itself as earning. Why millions go hungry because the food grains are not properly distributed or people are not able to buy it or afford to buy it.

In this case the government has to pass the Bill first saying everyone has right to have access to food. Then see how this can be impletemented. It will emerge to be a good practice at the end of the days without much money being pumped into this by the government itself.

Easiest way is to make sure that every district has self contained food structure. There is a food management and preservation plan at national level. Distribution is done properly throughout the country. Where there is a real need for poor then the government should plan and implement programmes in a way that the people either get thei food or find a way to earn their food.

Unless this bill is passed there is no way to get out of this issue. But it does not matter for the government to immediately implement by giving rice at the price of 3 rupees rather stage by stage they can implement so that hunger is removed in 10 years.

When people can spend 70,000 crores for CWG (may be for national pride - yes it is needed) but then Congress leaders particularly Montek shows a cruel face to the hungry people. what a contrast? Montek is one of those who are responsible for the red terrorism in India!

[Raghavendra]

Right to Food bill pits Montek against Sonia
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/right-to-foo ... 37-64.html


Montek is cheating! He does not want to give people food when there is a lot of rotten food out there in FCI.

Nah, montek is the honest one among the two , we all known about quattrocchi and sonia connections dont we?

[joshvajohn]

Possibly Both play Congress Game!

[joshvajohn]

Govt must not ignore the food security of its people
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/pol ... 733229.cms

The biggest failure of Indian economy
Today's Market: Wednesday, 13 Oct (Pre-Open)
http://www.equitymaster.com/tm/tm.asp?d ... an-economy

[joshvajohn]

India Formulates Sweeping New Legal Guarantee of Right to Food
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asi ... 41634.html

[joshvajohn]

‘Puppy’ bite in NAC food jab at Pawar
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101016/j ... 064548.jsp

[Raghavendra]

Seabuckthorn to green Himachal's Lahaul Valley http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20101017/86 ... lah_1.html