Weakening Welfare

The Public Distribution of Food in India

Author by : Madhura Swaminathan

9788187496083

LeftWord Books 2000

Language: English

140 Pages

5.5 x 8.5 Inches

Out of Stock!

Price INR 275.0 Not Available

About the Book

Weakening Welfare is a powerful argument for expanding and strengthening the public distribution system (PDS) in a country where hunger, poverty and malnutrition are as endemic as in India. The reigning orthodoxy of structural adjustment, however, preaches exactly the opposite. This book is a sharp indictment of food policies of the liberalization era. It demonstrates how these policies will worsen food and nutrition security among the vast majority of the Indian people. Looking at the effects of targeting of food subsidies on other countries, it marshals arguments in favour of making PDS universal. There is little doubt that PDS, as it functions today, has failed by and large to provide nutritional support to the people and requires genuine reform. The exception is Kerala, the only state in India where PDS has been near universal. This book discusses alternative proposals for making PDS an effective measure of food security. Written in a lucid, non-technical style, the book presents a wealth of recent data that will be as handy for the expert as for the interested layperson.

Madhura Swaminathan
Madhura Swaminathan is professor and head of the Economic Analysis Unit at the Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore.

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