-New Age Asia’s ability to keep food prices in check and ensure long-term regional food security will require the region’s farm to market supply chains to become more efficient and cost-effective, says a new Asian Development Bank study. The Study titled ‘The Quiet Revolution in Staple Food Value Chains: Enter the Dragon, the Elephant and the Tiger’, was produced by ADB and the International food Policy Research Institute in response to the...
More »SEARCH RESULT
New UN environment studies show rising mercury threat to people in developing countries
-The United Nations Communities in developing countries are facing increasing health and environmental risks linked to exposure to mercury, according to new studies by the United Nations environmental agency. Produced by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the studies note how parts of Africa, Asia and South America could see increasing emissions of mercury into the environment, due mainly to the use of the toxic element in small-scale gold mining, and through the...
More »Subsidised LPG cap may be raised to 12 -Anupama Airy
-The Hindustan Times The government is hoping to substantially negate the political fallout of higher diesel and cooking gas (subsidised LPG cylinder) prices by doubling the cap on the number of subsidised LPG cylinders from six to 12 a year. A proposal to this effect has been readied for a final decision by the Cabinet, a senior government official confirmed to HT. Such a move will “substantially mollify” people who are...
More »A sop that does not help -Sudha Mahalingam
-The Hindu Subsidies on cooking gas, kerosene and diesel have resulted in perverse outcomes not envisaged when they were introduced With the Aadhaar-based direct cash transfer scheme facing so many glitches in implementation, any hopes that the country’s energy sector can soon dismount the subsidy tiger it has been riding so dangerously have receded into the background. Had the Aadhaar scheme worked satisfactorily, the next logical step would have been to extend...
More »Understanding FDI in Retail: What Can Economic Principles Teach Us? -Abhirup Sarkar
-Economic and Political Weekly The recent debate on the acceptability of foreign direct investment in the retail sector in India has been mostly political. It is necessary to look into the pros and cons of FDI in retail from a purely economic point of view. This article identifi es the safeguards that should be undertaken before allowing giant multinationals to function in the country. Abhirup Sarkar (abhirup@isical.ac.in) is with the Indian Statistical...
More »