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.

The Centre on Friday revised its foodgrains production estimate upwards by 5.22 million tonnes for 2012-13 over earlier expectation on account of higher output of rice, wheat and coarse cereals.

The total foodgrains output is now estimated at 255.36 million tonnes with wheat production pegged at 93.62 million tonnes and rice at 104.22 million tonnes.

The CPI leader, in his letter to Jaipal, cites “conflict of interest”

Close on the heels of 17 MPs urging Science and Technology Minister Jaipal Reddy to withdraw from the Lok Sabha the recently introduced Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, CPI leader D. Raja has also expressed “serious reservations” over the Bill, which provides for a single-window clearance mechanism for genetically modified crops.

Despite severe opposition from civil society groups, the Union government has decided to cut the entitlement of a beneficiary to subsidised grain from 7 kg a month (as provided in the National Food

The Centre proposes to move at least 250 amendments to the National Food Security Bill when it is tabled in Parliament during the current Budget session.

The Bill, which seeks to give subsidised foodgrains to identified beneficiaries, will take into consideration the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food. Disclosing this, Right to Food activists said that during their meeting with the Minister of State for Food K.V. Thomas, they were given the assurance that the 2.5 crore Antyodaya Anna Yojana beneficiaries will continue to get 35 kg of concessional foodgrains.

Evidence of tampering with, overwriting & alteration of records

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, pointed out that several ineligible farmers were favoured and a large number of deserving small and marginal farmers left out in implementation of the United Progressive Alliance’s much-touted Rs. 52,000-crore farm loan waiver scheme.

The budget signals a decisive shift to high-value agriculture with allocations for crop diversification in the Indo-Gangetic belt, nutri-farms for growing fortified food crops, Farmer Producer Orga

Court of Arbitration in The Hague to decide on minimum flows by year-end

Though the Court of Arbitration at The Hague has upheld Indian’s right under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty to divert waters from the Rs. 3,600-crore hydro-electric project in the Kishenganga, the battle is not yet over. In its ‘partial award’ delivered on Monday in the dispute between India and Pakistan over the 330 MW project, the Court ruled that India would have to maintain a minimum flow in the river, known as Neelum in Pakistan.

A day before the expiry of the deadline set by the Supreme Court, the Centre on Tuesday took steps to notify the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal allocating the quantum of waters to the Cauvery basin States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala and Union territory of Puducherry.

Water Resources Secretary S.K. Sarkar signed the notification for publication in the official gazette, which is said to be in the process. The CWDT order attempts to settle the 120-year-old dispute on the sharing of the Cauvery waters. Karnataka has opposed the gazette notification of the final order.

Current grains allocation, AAY entitlement will be protected under the Bill, he assures States

Responding to concerns expressed by several States on a possible cut in food grains allocation under the National Food Security Bill, the Centre on Thursday gave an assurance that the current allocation will be protected and so will the Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) entitlement for the poorest of the poor. The Bill, Minister of State for Food K.V. Thomas said, would be reworked to make it “practical” and “acceptable.” It was proposed to be presented in the budget session of Parliament.