Agriculture
n News: Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution released the 1st edition of ‘State Ranking Index for NFSA’ during the conference of Food Ministers of States/UTs on ‘Food Nutrition and Security in India’
- The State ranking Index for NFSA attempts to document the status and progress of implementation of NFSA and various reform initiatives across the country, post consultation with states.
- It highlights the reforms undertaken by States and UTs and create a cross-learning environment and scale-up reform measures by all states and union territories.
- The Index is built on three key pillars which covers the end-to-end implementation of NFSA through TPDS. These pillars are:
- NFSA— Coverage, targeting and provisions of the Act,
- Delivery platform, and
- Nutrition initiatives.
- Odisha topped the index, it is followed by Uttar Pradesh at the 2nd spot and Andhra Pradesh at 3rd amongst the General Category States.
- Among the Special Category states/UTs, Tripura stood first followed by Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim respectively.
- Among the 3 UTs where Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) – Cash is operational, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu is the top ranked UT.
Sowing of Rice
- In the conference the Centre has asked the States to increase the sowing of paddy in the wake of reports that there is a decrease in its sowing.
- The Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution said the international demand for both rice and wheat has increased and asked the States to increase the sowing of paddy in this kharif season.
- The Centre’s data says that paddy has been sown on 43.45 lakh hectares till July 1, which is 05% less than last year’s sowing of 59.56 lakh hectares during the same period of 2021.
- Minister also stated the States should increase the sowing as wheat’s demand has increased globally.
Source: Pib.Gov
