New Delhi, January 01

Team India enters the year 2023 with hopes of putting the disappointments of the 2022 Asia Cup and ICC T20 World Cup behind and offering the fans what the pair of skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid had shown promise of. It will also be an year while veterans like KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan will be looking forward to making the most of their opportunities to regain their best form. Just like every year, new stars will be made and who could they all be, remains a question.

There is a packed schedule for Team India this year, be it at home or away.

India will start off its schedule with a white-ball series against Sri Lanka at home from January 3 to 15. The series against Asian champions will consist of three ODIs and three T20Is. Hardik Pandya will be leading the T20I squad with Suryakumar Yadav as his deputy, while Rohit will take over the reins in the ODI series with Pandya as his vice-captain.

Men in Blue will be looking forward to avenging the Asia Cup exit and clinching both trophies.

After this, New Zealand will tour India for a three-match series in T20Is and ODIs from January 18 onwards till February 1. After the white-ball series held in New Zealand faced disruptions and abandoning of matches due to rain, fans will be hoping that they get to watch these two quality team play all six matches in its entirety.

Perhaps India’s biggest assignment at home will be the defence of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The home series against the Aussies will consist of four Tests and 3 ODIs. With plenty of star power across both the sides, this series will no doubt be a treat to the eyes. The test series will be important in determining India’s road to the World Test Championship final and if they win it by a big margin, they could be playing the summit clash for the mace at the ‘Home of Cricket’, The Lord’s in June this year.

India will kick off their away season with a tour of the West Indies in July, when they play two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is. After hosting Australia for limited overs series, India will embark on their next full tour in December 2023 to South Africa.

India will also be keen to recapture the Asia Cup after a round-of-four exit last year. It will take place in a 50-over format this year. Dates for this event have not been announced officially.

The 2023 edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup will be the prize India will be no doubt, going all guns blazing. The event will be held from October-November 2023 and will serve as the final big event of the year.

India will be hosting the event in its entirety for the first time, having co-hosted the 1987, 1996 and 2011 events. Men in Blue led by Rohit Sharma will be aiming to go all guns blazing in home conditions to capture cricket’s biggest prize for the third time and their first ICC major title since the 2011 World Cup. (ANI)

 

Z

Centre rolls out new integrated food security scheme for 2023

 

X

New Delhi, January 01

The Centre launched a new integrated food security scheme on Sunday. The scheme will provide free foodgrains to 81.35 crore beneficiaries under NFSA for the year 2023 and aims to ensure effective and uniform implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

The Cabinet decided to launch a new central sector scheme to fulfil the vision of One Nation-One Price-One Ration under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is a commitment of the government to the most vulnerable 67 per cent of the population which is 81.35 crore persons covered under NFSA, according to the ministry’s statement.

Under the scheme, the government will provide free foodgrains to all NFSA beneficiaries namely Antyodaya Ann Yojana (AAY) households and Priority Household (PHH) persons for one year through the wide network of 5.33 lakh fair price shops across the country, according to the statement of the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution. The decision will strengthen the provisions of NFSA, 2013, in terms of accessibility, affordability and availability of foodgrains for the poor.

The new integrated scheme will subsume two current food subsidy schemes of the department of food and public distribution (DFPD) namely food subsidy to Food Corporation of India (FCI) for NFSA, and sops for decentralised procurement states, which deal with procurement, allocation and delivery of free foodgrains under NFSA.

Free foodgrains will concurrently ensure uniform implementation of portability under One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) across the country and will further strengthen this choice-based platform. This means the ration card could be used anywhere in the country. The Centre will bear the food subsidy of more than Rs 2 lakh crore for 2023. The new scheme is aimed at bringing uniformity and clarity on food security under NFSA at beneficiary level, the ministry statement said.

For implementing this scheme, the ministry had said that the secretary of DFPD had taken a meeting with all state food secretaries on December 29, 2022. The issues related to distribution of free foodgrains were discussed including technical resolutions. All states and Union Territories assured to implement the free foodgrain scheme from January 1, 2023, according to the statement.

The government had issued an order to all general managers of FCI to visit three ration shops every day in different areas of their jurisdiction mandatorily from January 1 till 7 and submit a report to the DFPD nodal officer on a daily basis, in the given format for review and taking corrective action.

In view of free foodgrains, an advisory is issued to the states/UTs on the mechanism to provide dealer’s margin for distributing foodgrains to the beneficiaries, the ministry said. (ANI)