Union home minister P. Chidambaram has rejected a proposal from the rural development minister C.P.

The expert panel looking into the National Advisory Council’s recommendations on the proposed Food Security Bill has asked the agriculture and the food minister Sharad Pawar to increase production and procurement of grains.

Food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has changed his stance on the National Advisory Council’s proposals on the food security bill after the Prime Minister chaired a meeting on the issue last we

In a “surprise move”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to set up an expert panel headed by C.

The food ministry has cited limited availability of grains for the proposed National Food Security Act and told the National Advisory Council, currently drafting the bill, to provide legal entitlements only to the below poverty line (BPL) persons.

The food ministry is in a bind after the Supreme Court asked it to continue with the additional allocation of 25 lakh tonnes of grains for the poor under the public distribution system (PDS). The additional off-take, including wheat and rice, had been issued in September to provide some respite to the poor from high food prices. It was meant for a period of six months.

In order to strengthen the monitoring of its programmes like flagship MGNREGA, the rural development ministry is planning to allow the national-level monitors (panel of retired officers who visit dist

The government has decided to bring in the controversial Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill in the coming Winter Session of Parliament in its present form.
Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal announced this on Wednesday.

Except for two states in the country, all the remaining ones are going to fall way short of the target of 100 per cent coverage of all rural schools and anganwadis in their regions with toilets by 2011. The target was set for them under the Centre’s Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC).

Three technological cooperation agreements will be signed between Indian and the US during US President Barack Obama’s visit here, all of which are expected to give the much-needed boost to Indian agriculture.